Lavender Terraces

Well, thanks to a wonderful husband, great friends, and a helpful neighbor I now have more planting room! I'm SO excited! It's so much fun when you can see your vision for an area becoming a reality. Last week, this area was one big, huge brush pile. This week, I have sculpted terraces. Awesome! I was able to get to work this weekend putting starts in the ground and starting some rows of seeds. The weather coming up this week is going to be just perfect for seed starting...it's not often that I hope for rain, but in this case...bring it on! :)

The photo above shows one of the slopes between two terraces. With the terrain I'm working in, I'm going to have A LOT of slopes to work with. So my plan is to turn them into usable space. To prevent the slopes from eroding I will be filling them with lavender. Even when the lavender gets cut back the root system will stay in place and help keep each slope in tact. Plus, lavender grows really well on a slope, as it prefers well drained areas. It's indigenous to the Mediterranean, so it's very drought tolerant.

I started about 15 lavender plants inside this spring, so I was able to get one slope started yesterday. But they only covered about 1/8 of the area!! In the next few days I will be spreading seed on the rest of the area and the other slopes. Unfortunately, we won't be able to enjoy the fruits of this labor until a few years down the road. It's not until about year three that lavender is truly established and ready for full harvest. I might get a few blooms when pruning next year, but probably not many. But that's what gardening is all about right? Planting seeds and believing in the future! In other news, "planting site #1" is coming right along! We've got snapdragons, stock, phlox, dahlias, hollyhock, celosia, lilies, gladiolas, hops, and roses starting to come to life in this area. It doesn't look like much now, but there's a lot happenin' in the soil!

As you can see I've put down straw for mulch and pretty soon I'll be spreading a top dressing of organic compost on the growing rows. Over time, this will help the soil composition. For now, it will provide the plants with nutrients, help to keep roots cool during hot summer days and improve water retention.

Lots of work still to do, but I'm so glad to be kicking off our first growing season! :)