Varieties
Choosing Lavender Varieties for a Cold Valley
Three seasons of alternating rows on the same calcareous slope, with notes on winter dieback and first-cut dates.
Read the field notesClarifications
A few ground rules keep the member directory honest. They are not moderation policies, just shared definitions so two growers comparing notes mean the same thing when they write "yield" or "first cut."
When a member reports oil output, it refers to their own harvested area for that season, with the variety and distillation method noted. Numbers from a half-hectare plot on shallow limestone are not meant to be scaled up as a forecast for a different farm.
A June cut in one valley can be a July cut two ridges over. Posts list the province, altitude, and whether the field faces north or south, because a date without that context tells another grower almost nothing about their own rows.
Narrow-leaf, hybrid, and French lavender are used as the three working groups. If a member grows a named cultivar, they add it after the group, so a swap of cuttings can be matched to the right soil and drainage before anyone plants.
Coordinated visits to flowering fields happen through member posts, not through the site. Anyone opening their rows to others sets the terms, the timing, and the size of the group in their own thread.
Reports about lavender beetle, late frost damage, or propagation by cuttings belong in their dedicated sections. Keeping them there makes the archive searchable for the next grower who runs into the same problem.
Reading alongside the threads
Three long-running write-ups sit behind most of the seasonal arguments on this page. They are the pieces new members usually read first, and the ones older members quote when a question about variety choice, drying, or beetle pressure comes up again.
Each article collects real plot notes, dates, and outcomes rather than general advice.
Varieties
Three seasons of alternating rows on the same calcareous slope, with notes on winter dieback and first-cut dates.
Read the field notesHarvest and drying
A simple hanging-line setup, the mistakes that cost a week of harvest, and how to spot mold early.
See the drying setupPests
Scouting dates and damage patterns from four plots, plus what actually reduced pressure without spraying.
Compare the plotsMembers link them into regional threads when a question about spacing, cutting height, or soil drainage resurfaces.
If your own plot behaves differently, the comment sections are where the useful disagreements happen.