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The Lavender Project
DayBreak Lavender Farm wants to share its lavender success and learning with other farmers who might be interested in adding lavender to their crop mix.
Our dream is to one day have a North East Ohio Lavender Festival such as the one in Sequim Valley, Washington (you can read all about it at this url: http://www.lavenderfestival.com). Of course, that will mean having lavender farms for visitors to tour and that's why we've started The Lavender Project ... to interest other farmers in growing lavender, a great high value crop.
Lavender is a perennial and only requires three conditions to grow happily for a full decade:
1. Blazing sun.
2. Excellent drainage. Wetness will kill lavender faster than anything including drought.
3. Sweet, alkaline soil. We amended our former cow pasture with organic, timed-release lime.
The information here is designed to get you thinking and started. It's basically the story of how we began, what books helped us and where we ordered our plants. Don't plant seeds, only small plants. Seeds are never true to varity and you won't know what you're getting until it's too late.
In 2000, four years ago, Michael Slyker, my husband, began with a test bed of 150 plants of 13 varieties planted over two years to determine which would do best in our location. We now have ploughed a 2 acre field and are planting that one quarter at a time every year.
We think that will work well because it gives a chance to change our mix of varieties to respond to market conditions and it also means when we have to replant in 8 to 10 years, we won't have to re-do the entire field at once. We will be able to replant 1/4 acre at a time which will be easier.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us. We love our lavender; it's such a tough, undemanding crop which will bring a good return on your investment aside from bringing your many hours of joy and beauty!!
Download The Lavender Project Information PDF
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