Gardening question

[Callie]

Is it too late to plant a lavender hedge in August?

[Lin Henden]

April and May are optimum for planting lavender and they love chalky or alkaline soil so you may have to treat your soil before planting.

[Callie]

Hi thanks. I've just removed the old lavender hedge & prepared the bed for planting. Luckily the soil was treated & is perfect for growing lavender. I read somewhere that it could be planted till Aug included but wondered if anyone had done this successfully. I was rather hoping to get the plants in before next spring to give them a head start.

[red devil]

Spring is the best time for most plants. Frost is the worry for young, tender plants, but Lavender is evergreen and in my experience fairly hardy, esp in London which doesn't get too many severe frosts. I would give it a go and if we get a cold snap, cover them up with some horticultural fleece...

[Whittler]

You will probably be ok to plant them now if they are a hardy variety as red devil suggests. This is a really good website for lavender which i've used in the past (i've just removed an old lavender hedge, but have been carefully taking cuttings from the existing plants for the last 3 yrs so that i can replace them with the same variety - i'm intending to replant in the next few weeks if possible and if the weather holds) http://www.downderry-nursery.co.uk/

There are some helpful tips on the site for care and pruning etc.

They recommend planting up until September, after that it's a bit of a risk so i agree, you should be ok now.