New Member & New Lavender Farm

Hello All,
 
I am a new member.  I just moved to my present location at the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills of California in April this year.  I am at about 1000 foot elevation in Sunset Zone 9 but I think the plant palette can be extended much further here since I see mature bougainvillea growing in this area out in the open.  I always thought bougainvillea should be planted on a south facing wall in order to make it through the winter in this zone.  I am excited with the prospect of being able to grow so many more plants.  I planted some Mexican sage and Spanish tarragon from 2.5 inch pots in May and they are both very tall and blooming now.
 
I am starting a lavender, herb and flower farm and I plan to open next year.  I did a test plot of a few varieties of lavender in my newly planted herb garden, which I planted in May from 2.5 inch pots.  All of the plants did well and a couple had a small amount of blossoms at the end of the summer. I have some raised vegetable, flower & bulb beds, the herb garden and a mixed perennial border.
 
My mass planting of lavender was just put in this fall from plugs with about 800 plants of eight varieties.  I am busy keeping track of all of these plants now and through the winter and next month I am putting up a small gift shop and a storage shed.
 
Has anyone dried lavender in bulk in a very hot area?  I am thinking ahead and wondering if I should plan on drying the lavender in an enclosed shed, or our barn which has many air leaks or in our house which would have cooler temperatures in the summer.  In the middle of summer, we get over 90 every day and a few days over 100, but we have a breeze every day starting about 11 a.m. till about 3 p.m.  I am thinking the storage shed would get too hot and not have enough air circulation but my house might be too cool?
 
I look forward to conversing with all of you and discovering many more plant varieties to grow.
 
Linda
Sunset Zone 9, CA, USA
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index