Field of dreams

I plan to create a miniature lavender field in my long plot.  I am using Folgate and Maillette, varieties which produce an oil which is the soft, sweet subtle fragrance suited for use in cooking and luxury perfumery, as well as high grade essential oil.   Maillette is the variety grown in the lavender fields in Provence, and Folgate has been grown in this country for many years. 

I want to use the flowers in biscuits, soap making, and also in lavender bags.  I will also use it to make lavender dollies, which are the same as corn dollies, only done with lavender.  They are much simpler smaller creations however, as it's not possible to join the stems together.

I would love one day to distill the essential oil.  I think I'll start by trying to make a hydrosol, which is a simple distillation method resulting in a fragranced water. 

I am planting them in alternate rows, so I will have two shades of violet blue acting as foils for each other. 

I started this bed last year.  I was able to source the Folgate relatively easily, but the Maillette was really difficult to track down, and in the end I gave up and resorted to Hidcote for the other rows.  I'd run out of money, and bought some 'mishapes', which were rather more misshapen than I expected.  I planted them nevertheless, and most of them survived the winter, but they really don't look like very happy.

This spring I had another attempt at searching for Maillette, and found some rather miraculously on ebay.  I bought three plants, and they are very healthy, though small.  I'm growing them on in the greenhouse, where they will be safe from creatures and my feet. 

Today I lifted the struggling Hidcote and put them in pots.  I am making a lavender hedge all around the Herbarium in the small allotment, as a protective and decorative barrier .  Animals are deterred by lavender, as they don't like the taste of the essential oil in the leaves.  I have already completed two sides, and there are exactly the right number of these Hidcote misshapes to make a third side, so when I have pruned them back  to a single stem to make them bush out into a good strong form I will plant them there. 

I also removed all the flints from the lavender field area.  Flints are always appearing in beds whenever there is rain, and I am always removing them.  I had read that it is traditional in France to surround lavender plants with stones to increase the heat and light around the plants, thereby increasing the quantity of oil.  I know this is also something that is done in vineyards to increase the sweetness of the grapes.  I thought it would be a good way to use the flints.  However, it made weeding the bed very awkward, and it was unpleasant and quite treacherous treading on the uneven stony ground of the bed while I was caring for the plants. 

It was such a good feeling to rake off all those annoying sharp stones today.  There were mounds of them, and they were a heavy load in the barrow.  I've made a pile of them by the shed, as I think the best way to use flints is as a hardcore base for a shed, should I ever be in a position to buy a new one.

I think I'll just put chipping paths between the plants for now, and maybe in the end surround them with gravel.  As I passed the pile of chippings today on my way home I noticed how much it had decreased in size, so I think path creation is my next job.