Your Lavender Needs This Every October — 7 Mistakes Most Gardeners Make, by Backyard Blooms on YouTube. 30 min 26 s.
- Video length
- 30 min 26 s
- Time to do it
- 1 hour
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Check your lavender variety and your USDA hardiness zone. English lavender copes with cold better than Spanish lavender, so a tender type may need a pot moved into a shed or garage.
Test soil drainage with a shovel-and-hose check. Dig a small hole about 30 cm deep, fill it with water and see how fast it drains. If water still sits after an hour, your soil holds too much moisture.
Fix poor drainage before winter. Mix grit or coarse sand into heavy soil, or grow the plant in a raised bed or pot with drainage holes and gravel in the base.
Stop feeding lavender in fall. Do not use general fertilizer, and keep lawn feed and weed-and-feed products away from the bed, since the nitrogen pushes soft growth that frost kills.
Test soil pH and add garden lime only if the result is below about 6.5. Lavender prefers slightly alkaline soil, so correct it now rather than in spring.
Prune lightly after flowering. Trim spent flower stems and cut back soft growth by about a third, but never cut into the old woody stems, which may not regrow.
Check the plant for problems before winter. Look for gray or brown patches at the crown, soft rotting roots, spotted leaves and pests, and remove badly affected stems or plants.
Keep mulch and fallen leaves off the crown. Leave a gap of a few centimeters around the base so air can move and water does not sit against the stems.
When the first hard frost is forecast, do not water heavily or wrap the plant tightly. Move potted lavender to a sheltered spot and let the plant harden off naturally.
Tips and common mistakes
Wet feet in winter kill more lavender than cold, so drainage matters more than any cover.
Cutting back into old wood can leave a bare, dead-looking plant, so stay in the soft green growth.
Skip the fall fertilizer even if the plant looks tired, since new growth is the first thing frost damages.
In cold zones, choose English lavender over Spanish types, which are less hardy.
Questions
Should I cut my lavender back in October?
Only a light tidy. Remove spent flower stems and trim soft growth by about a third, but leave the woody base alone. Save harder shaping for spring.
Why did my lavender turn gray and brittle over winter?
Usually from wet soil, mulch packed against the crown, or soft growth from fall feeding. Cold alone rarely kills a healthy, well-drained plant.
Can I fertilize lavender in fall?
No. Fall feeding encourages tender new growth that frost kills. Feed in spring instead, and keep lawn products away from the bed.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
