Lavender help.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

I have a sunny spot in my new garden and opting for lavender and echinacea. I have read these worn well together. I hope so!

I know that lavender doesn’t need good soil. If I’m planting in a pot or planter. What am I buying to put it into. Don’t want to go all fancy and it not like it. What do u start out with as I will have to buy the soil to put in the pot

I start with bog standard compost with a good amount of grit (about 10-15%) thrown in for drainage.

I’m a complete novice here. Moved into a house with no garden at all. So bare with me. When u say grit. What do u mean. Like small stones?

No worries - we were all noices once!

Yes, at a garden centre you can buy horticultural grit which is a bag of very small stones. You add it to improve drainage - i.e. mean the water runs out the bottom more quickly. Which sounds mad but it's because lavendar really doesn't like sitting in wet soil. So by using grit you can water it well but not worry you have over watered it - because all the excess will run away.

(Make sure your pot has drainage holes in the bottom for this, too)

Also lavender is a brilliant plant to start with!

Get proper English lavender, something like 'Hidcote' as the French variety isn't reliably hardy in the UK.

Thanks. This is really helpful. I have spent hours and hours researching all of this. Have so much to learn and am keen to get started.
I love audiobooks. So looking forward to listening and gardening

If you haven't yet discovered the Gardener's Question Time podcast - it makes an excellent gardening companion

Sarah Raven has a podcast and released a mini series aimed at beginners yesterday.

The podcast Let's grow girls is also great (and has a Facebook group too).

I listen to both when I'm struggling to sleep. Very soothing and if just half of it goes in, I'm winning

I'd recommend Melissa Lilac over Hidcote for a beginner. Hidcote has a tendency to go woody so getting the annual prune right matters more. Melissa Lilac resprouts from the base as well as not getting anything like as woody, so is a lot more forgiving.

This is fab. Thanks!