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We are about to harvest and dry lavender here people! Lavender is one of those plants that every garden should have. It provides absolute beauty with its bright purple flowers and muted green leaves. Plus, the medicinal properties to lavender is just absolutely incredible and a must have when you are building your skills with herbal medicine.
Table of Contents
- What medicinal properties does lavender have?
- How to Harvest lavender
- How to Dry Your Lavender
- Hang Dry Your Lavender
- Here is a video on how to make lavender and rosemary bundles!
- Drying Lavender Using a Screen
- Using a Dehydrator To Dry Lavender
- Drying Lavender In An Oven
- Using A freeze Dryer To Dry Lavender
- The Importance of Drying Completely
- Where To Buy Lavender
- How to Store Your Dried Lavender
What medicinal properties does lavender have?
Lavender is one of those scents that everyone is familiar with. However, the real scent of lavender is SO much more beautiful than you could imagine. It is a staple for herbalist to have in their apothecary cabinet because it has such a wide range of uses. Here are just a few uses, if you would like more information on how to grow lavender, you can read our lavender article here.
- Burns
- Headaches
- Sleep
- Anxiety
- Wounds and scrapes
Okay, let’s get to the point you came here for.
How to Harvest lavender
The best time to harvest any flower or herb is in the morning before the sun hits them. You want them to be perky and still full of life not hot and saggy from the sun. Cutting them at this time also allows you to beat the bees. Because if you have lavender in your garden, you know those sweet little bees just love themselves some lavender too!
You don’t want to gather any flowers that look spent or are dying. Cut the dead ones off and throw in your compost.
Plants have what is called a node. It is the part where you have two leaves coming out to the sides and a stem in the middle. When cutting your flowers, you want to cut the stem in the middle of the node.
There you have it, cut away my friends.
This process couldn’t be easier.
How to Dry Your Lavender
There are a few ways that you can dry your lavender once you have it all harvested. The easiest and most popular method is hang drying it but you can use a screen, dehydrator, oven, or freeze dryer. Let’s tap into each of these methods a bit more shall we.
Hang Dry Your Lavender
Once you have all the flowers that tickle your fancy, go ahead and bundle them at the stems. Be sure to leave yourself a loop to hang your lavender bundles upside down to dry. Hang it in an area that gets lots of ventilation. To avoid dust from getting on your lavender, you can place a paper bag over them or even a piece of linen.
Bundles are my favorite way to hang dry my lavender. Bundling it all up keeps for a less messy process. As your lavender dries it becomes extra delicate. The smallest bump and those beautiful little purple flower heads go all over the place! Bundling them keeps them tight and tidy.
Take some twine and tie the bundle up, starting at the stem end. Then run your twine in a straight line to the end where the flowers are. Do a few twists at the top to hold it all in place and then start working your way down back towards the stem end. Do this a few times until you have criss crossed your way around your lavender, creating a bundle.
At the end of your twine you want to make a loop, where you can hang your bundle to dry.
Find a spot that you can hang your lavender for about 4 to 6 weeks. Once you are able to touch the flowers and hear a slight crunch to it, those bad boys are done.
Here is a video on how to make lavender and rosemary bundles!
Drying Lavender Using a Screen
Drying lavender on a screen is simple. If you have an old window screen are one step ahead. If you don’t you can make a simple screen by making a frame out of 2×2 pieces of wood and stapling either window screen to it or even hardware cloth.
Once you have your screen, lay out your lavender in a single layer, giving it some space between each other so they all have airflow. To prevent dust from landing on your lavender you can cover your lavender with a piece of screen, paper towels or a thin piece of linen.
Allow your lavender to dry for 1-2 weeks.
Using a Dehydrator To Dry Lavender
Using a dehydrator is one of the fastest ways to dry your lavender. Lay your lavender on each tray in a single layer. Dry at a low temperature of 100 degrees for about 2 hours.
After two hours check your lavender by gently squeezing it, if it is crispy and falls off it is ready to go. If it is soft when you squeeze it, it needs a bit more dry time. Continue to dry and check every 30 minutes until completely dry.
Drying Lavender In An Oven
If you do not have a dehydrator you can absolutely use your oven to dry your lavender. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay your lavender in a single layer.
Turn your oven on at its lowest setting. Using this method will require you to just check your lavender more often to see if it is completely dry because all ovens work a bit differently. Check your lavender every hour until dry.
Using A freeze Dryer To Dry Lavender
Freeze drying your lavender is one of my favorite ways to dry it. It is as if you are freezing time and smell! If you have a freeze dryer I highly suggest you make this your favorite method! We use the Harvest Right freeze dryer and love it!
Turn your freeze dryer on according to manufacturing instructions. Place your lavender in a single layer on each tray. Put trays in freeze dryer, hit continue and let that beast of a machine do its beautiful work.
The Importance of Drying Completely
Remember, however you choose to dry your lavender, it must be completely dry when finished. Plants have moisture, which can cause mold. This is crucial to prevent, especially if you’re drying lavender for medicinal uses like tinctures or teas, as well as for making salves and lotions. Ensuring your lavender is totally dry helps prevent illness if consumed or skin irritation if applied.
Where To Buy Lavender
You can find lavender at your big box hardware stores or a local nursery but buying full grown plants always cost more. We prefer to grow by seed from a trust company like Peaceful Valley at groworganic.com, you can find some really amazing seeds like these to get started. Use our coupon code to get 20% OFF! SPRINGSAVE20
How to Store Your Dried Lavender
After it is done drying, take a bowl and lay down a piece of cardboard or newspaper, something that can catch all the little flowers that come off on their own. Something I don’t do and regret every time. Now softly just twist at the flowers and they will fall right off.
Once you are done, store your harvested lavender in an air tight container, label with variety of lavender and the date it was harvested. Place air tight container in a cool dark place.
You got all this lavender, now what in the world do you do with it? Go ahead and read our 7 uses for lavender.
If you are now motivated to grow some lavender but don’t know how please head on over here to read more! And don’t forge to check out 7 ways to use your lavender now that it is dry!
Until next time…
Omgooooodness that video!