How to Start Lavender Indoors
Do you know the smell of lavender—that sweet, refreshing perfume that clings to some of grandmother's treasures of linen and embroidery? One catches a whiff of it in old gardens sometimes, and it is always welcome. You can buy the seed from a florist or seedsman—Lavandula vera is what the true English lavender is called, and that is best. If it cannot be had, Lavandula spica is next best. It takes time to raise either, but it will be such an addition to your out-of-door garden that you will not regret the time spent. About the first of March the lavender seed should be sown, in window boxes or flats. Make shallow drills with your finger, drop the seed in and cover lightly. Sprinkle them every day with your bulb sprinkler until they come up. When the little plants each have four leaves they may be transplanted. Before starting to transplant them they should be thoroughly wet. Set them five inches apart. In the winter protect the plants with litter—leaves, straw, etc.—six inches deep. The next year, in March, they should be set in rows three feet apart.
When the plants are in full bloom the sprigs are cut, and then dried in a cool, darkened room or closet. Lay them on paper so as to save all the blossoms. The lavender flowers may be made into the daintiest of sachets by filling with them sheer linen bags or pale lavender silk ones.
The sprigs that are left after the blossoms have fallen may be used like Chinese incense to sweeten a room, by lighting the blossom end of a single piece and letting it burn in a vase or incense holder.