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pagirlmint

Dead lavender?

pagirlmint
12 years ago

I'm having a real problem keeping lavender alive, so far this year I've bought (& quickly killed) it twice. I can't figure out why, everything else is staying alive & it dies really fast?

-I plant everything in aged manure mixed with my yard's soil, about 4c manure to 1c soil. So far nothing has been hurt by that mixture so I don't think that's it.

-The yard is mostly sun with about 2hrs after sunrise & before sunset that's shaded.

-The ground is a little moist (dig 2ft & you hit water) & while the rosemary isn't loving that it's still ALIVE, so I don't think that is it either.

-The local nurseries suck, so everything I get is pot-bound, but I'm used to it & have got quite good at separating them, so I don't think that's it.

So far this year I've learned to plant so many herbs: basil, 8 different mints, rosemary, sage, cilantro, parsley, etc. I even managed to keep the camomile alive, my vegetable garden is growing like mad, but this lavender is driving me crazy!

Help?

Comments (4)

  • flora_uk
    12 years ago

    Lavender comes from the sundrenched rocky slopes of the Mediterranean where it gets very little water in summer. I'm afraid your description reads like instructions for ' how not to grow lavender'. I'd say yours is dying from well-meaning but misplaced mollycoddling..... So....

    1. leave out the manure.
    2. plant the next one in unamended soil
    3. water table at 2 ft is practically a bog. In my garden I think I'd have to go 10 times that depth to hit water. 4. find a fast draining, sunny location.
    5. never mind its being pot bound - just tease out the roots a bit (but don't fiddle with them too much).
    6. I'd not be too hopeful for the long-term prospects of your rosemary and sage either in those conditions.

    Good luck.

  • pagirlmint
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, I guess I'm done with lavender then.
    If I don't add manure nothing will grow besides grass. My yard doesn't have top soil it's mostly solid clay so even with the 2ft water table (& the fact that we as seated at the bottom of a hill) it is hard to dig in & not particularly wet.
    Today the rosemary is going into a sunken pot in a raised bed to help with drainage. My sage is not huge by any means but it's healthy & happy so I think it's going to stay in the ground.

    Thank you :)

  • oliveoyl3
    12 years ago

    You don't have to give up on the lavender!

    You could try growing lavender in a clay pot OR in a location with less manure (4 cups of it to 1 cup soil is a bit too rich)

    It doesn't like winter wet, but can handle freezes. Also, only water 1st year, then okay w/ occasional rainfall in my climate (wet winter/dry summer). In my area I was told that most lavender dies from too much moisture.

    I've had it overwinter last year in an amended clay bed, but the manure was already composted & not recently applied. I planted it a bit high & it was on a slight slope.

    I lost several clay pots of lavender in my unheated greenhouse. I don't know if it was because I let them get too dry or because of the sudden cold snap in November & plants didn't have time to wind down from growing all summer. I overwintered them the year before on my front porch out of the winter rains, so I had though the greenhouse would be ideal.

  • styric
    12 years ago

    Mine seems happy in 2 parts sand to 1 part compost. It likes dry, sandy soil. I've got mostly clay so I built a raised bed specifically for lavender and rosemary. It overwintered here, including a stint of -60. I lost 1 out of 6, and that was because my toddler sat on it in the spring.

    I knew our lack of rain the past few weeks was getting bad when the lavender wilted!

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