All about LAVENDER

Heather Walford runs Nannup Lavender Farm with husband Rob Marshall. PHOTOS: DANELLA BEVIS

In 1999 Heather Walford and Rob Marshall began the slow process of setting up a viable lavender farm from scratch.
"We bought the farm then thought, what can we do with it?" Heather said.

At the time, no-one was growing lavender commercially in WA, so the couple visited operations in Victoria and Tasmania.
From what they learnt there they chose to plant English lavender, Lavendula angustifolia, and smaller amounts of French lavender, L dentata, and the hybrid, L intermedia, to extend the flowering season from September to January.

"We now have eight varieties flowering from November to January and six others in small quantities," Heather said.

Their seven-hectare property is on the Vasse Highway south of Nannup at the junction of Graphite Road, so they get plenty of tourist traffic past the front door.

So far they have only planted 1ha to lavender, but that will increase.

Since buying the block the couple have also built a shop and a rammed-earth house.

"The lavender is very labour intensive," said Heather. "We hand-harvest our own flowers to make pot pourri, lavender wheat bags, pillows and teddy bears and sell everything through the on-site shop."

The shop at Nannup Lavender Farm has also become the Secret Garden tearoom from which they sell light lunches, home-made lavender scones, lavender tea and lavender honey ice cream at weekends.

During the week the tearoom is let out to small groups for seminars and special occasions. It holds groups of 16 comfortably, making it ideal for short training courses.

Heather is planning to extend the menu to include high tea in the near future.

She also buys lavender oil to make soap, hand cream and cosmetics, a line Heather calls the Scentimental Collection. She also sells products on behalf of the Lavender Association and aims to raise the association's profile.

The long-term plan is for both of them to work full-time on the farm.

Heather quit her job 14 months ago to work on the farm. Rob does shift work at Worsley and lives in Bunbury, coming to the farm when he can.

"We also want to help create local employment," Heather said.

At present they have only one casual person working in garden.

They bought their original plants from a commercial grower in the eastern states.

"We propagate as much as possible from cuttings which we raise in a small hothouse," Heather said. "We are planning a big planting for oil production, so we can't propagate all the plants we need."

Although the lavender oil market is depressed, Heather is hoping to begin distilling her own oil when the new English lavender plants are ready for harvest.

Rob's skills as a mechanical fitter will be in demand to construct the steam distillation plant.

In addition to its use in cosmetics, the oil is valuable for use in foodstuffs.

Once established, lavender is easy to grow.

"There are hardly any problems growing lavender," Heather said. "We need to lime annually and fertilise with dynamic lifter two to three times a year. Sometimes we use blood and bone meal.

"Pests are a minimal problem. Grasshoppers are one - they cut off flower stalks of young plants.

"We have guinea fowl to control grasshoppers, but we have only 12 left because we lose two at a time on the road - one gets killed, another goes to investigate and gets killed too."

Rainfall at the property averages 800mm. They have installed rainwater tanks and when they run dry Heather pumps water up from a dam.

The lavender plants are watered every third day in summer.

Heather is careful not to over water because lavender does not like wet feet.

She uses a straw mulch to keep the soil moisture in, as well as control weeds, and when the plants are mature the mulch will not be necessary.

Heather is planning to go organic.

"Going organic is easy because I've never used chemicals for 10 years, although imported plants are sprayed for biosecurity," she said.

"The main need is to find a source of inputs, such as sheep manure, from an organic farm."

Weed control, the bugbear of most organic growers, she plans to leave to sheep or goats, which eat weeds but ignore lavender, when the fences have been fixed.

Heather is promoting the business in association with events such as the Music Festival and Garden Week at Nannup.

"Nannup is quiet in January because people are attracted to the coast but some people find it too busy and come here to escape the crowds," she said.

"I had my own harvest festival in January when the lavender was in flower.

"I'm also planning a lavender trail through the South-West with other growers or anyone selling lavender products.

"Perhaps we might make it a French trail with lavender, cheeses, olives and truffles."

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