Last edited by shiny on November 11, 2026. View history
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For lavender, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 2250 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your lavender will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by shawnacscott,
This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
lettuces
arugula
mustard
sunflowers
dill
onions
beets
tomatoes
fenugreek
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
lavender
spinach
basils
thyme
parsley
zucchini
peas
calendulas
by Skud,
Our landlords tried to make our rental property's garden low-maintenance by filling it the beds with all kinds of perennial shrubs and small trees. Unfortunately they planted everything really close together and it's caused all kinds of problems – things under trees not getting enough l…
sunflowers
squash
by Skud,
I really should've got started on winter planting sooner, I think. Everything in the garden is in a lull right now. Although people near me are still blogging about the last of their crops from summer, all we have still going are some chillis and some basil. Lots of things …
zucchini
celeriac
chives
beans
lavender
pumpkins
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 180 to 365 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Lavandula angustifolia Miller
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Lamiales Labiatae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -20 °C, rest: -15 °C |
| Life form | sub-shrub, shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
Lavender
purple cauliflower
Photos
shiny harvested not specified.
View all lavender seeds