Certification & Getting the Soil Right.
While researching lavender growing, I came across a self-paced online course that was developed by Michigan State University in collaboration with land-grant universities, the United States Lavender Growers Association and USDA’s North Regional Center for Rural Development. It’s a comprehensive introduction to lavender production that included a wealth of information on growing lavender plus modules on developing a lavender farm’s business plan and marketing. And it’s just $30. I’m now certified and consider this course as one of my go to resources. Here’s the link to taking the Growing Lavender: A Curriculum for Growers course.
After completing the course and hours of researching further, getting the soil right for lavender is vital to successful production. We took three field samples to our local University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, and tested for pH and sand/silt/clay percentages. Lavender likes pH between 6.5 and 7.0 [really likes alkaline soils up to pH8], and sandy loam well drained soil. Our best field was pH 6.21 and silt loam. On the edge for lavender production.
So how do we amend our soil? Here’s where you get different opinions. And most of my research did not point to a lavender grower with similar soil results or expert with definitive amendments and amounts. Which only means I’ll formulate a plan knowing it’s going to be trial and error. A small test field for this Spring. More to come...
