By Kaitlin McHenry
At Lavender Hill Farm, we are all about sharing our experiences and knowledge with guests. There is so much to learn about lavender and its uses! Our summer season offers informative tours every day, but if you check out our Event Calendar, we offer extra classes that dive deeper into the care, harvesting, and uses of lavender, as well as characteristics of different cultivars.
One of these classes is Growing and Harvesting 101. This class takes guests around the farm teaching them how we grow, care for, and harvest the many lavender cultivars on our farm.
At the end of the class, guests get to pick out their very own lavender plant, which they now know how to take care of and set up to thrive for many years to come. Students also receive a guidebook on growing lavender.
After completing this class, students will know how to successfully take care of lavender plants and be able to assess their individual growing conditions to decide what cultivars will work best for their conditions and harvest preferences.
During Growing and Harvesting 101 classes over several summers, guests have asked very insightful questions, which piqued deeper conversations. These great conversations have inspired this summer’s newest lavender class opportunity: Growing and Harvesting 102!
As farmers who spend months—and even years—learning and perfecting the fine details of growing and harvesting lavender, we realize one class cannot possibly cover it all. While Growing and Harvesting 101 is still full of excellent advice and details, Growing and Harvesting 102 reviews some of the topics from the first class and expands on them in much greater detail and brings entirely new topics too.
This class will go more in depth on growing and harvesting methods, covering topics of soil chemistry, soil testing, growing seeds vs clippings, details on lavender bloom phases and what to look for while harvesting, the science behind lavender’s scent, pest management, and more! This class will make you feel like a pro in the world of lavender and teach you things to look for that can be applied in your whole garden.
Stay tuned for details regarding class dates and times for the 2025 summer season! These classes will be added to our Event Calendar once details have been finalized.