I’ve been cutting lavender almost each day since July 23.

Lavender in “the secret garden”

Since I’m not using my lavender for crafts and bouquets, I wait until the blossoms are generously open on each plant before harvesting.

Carefully working alongside the buzz of the honey bees, that are very gentle,  I respect their work while cutting. This is a later blooming lavender that will be ready to harvest later this week and into next.

Lavender is very hardy. I grab a bunch at a time and cut towards the end of the stem and into the green.

Never cut into the woody part of your plant as lavender is unlikely to grow from below the cut if you do.

Once I have a bundle – as much as I can hold in one handful – I wrap an elastic around the stems to hold it together. Elastic works best as the stems will shrink during drying and the elastic continues to contract to hold the bundle together.

I work across the top of each plant giving it a much-needed haircut until the plant is stripped clean of flowers.

Bundles of freshly cut lavender from inside the secret garden.

Back to the drying room where I tie a piece of string around each bundle and thread those onto a long pole that hang from the ceiling. During the days I open the doors to get good air circulation through the drying room. Depending on the weather, humidity, etc., the lavender takes about week – 10 days to begin to feel dry to the touch and the lavender buds separate easily from the stem.