It’s been just over a year since we took possession of Killay Fawr Farm, and lord have we been busy. We’ve already renovated one range of outbuildings to create a workshop for making our range of lavender products, and remodelled the ground floor of the farmhouse which was desperate for an upgrade. All necessary and important work!
But obviously we moved to the farm to grow our lavender business, and you can’t have a lavender business without lavender. So perhaps the most important task has been to plan and plant our first lavender field. Here our founder Rae Howells tells you more about the design of the field, what we’ve done, and most importantly, why we’ve done it.
Location, location, location
First of all, we had to decide where on the farm to plant our first lavender plants. We own four fields, each with its own character. On the 1844 maps, they are named as:
- Cae Mawr
Welsh for big field. As the name suggests, it’s big. It’s a lovely open field that spans the top of the hill with a beautiful gentle slope on the south side bordered by an old wood, and at the top end it has spectacular views of Swansea Bay and the sea - Cae Bach wrth Ty
It means Little Field by the House. For sure this field is smaller than Cae Mawr but at just over 2 acres it’s not tiny. It also proves the saying ‘good things come in small packages’. Beautiful, surrounded by mature hedges and a wood, Cae Bach is very peaceful, is conveniently close to the house and outbuildings, and it has the most beautiful fluffy, rich soil - Meadow 157
This field didn’t even merit a name on the old map, it’s just called Meadow and given the number 157. We call it the ‘rough field’ as it’s quite bumpy and hasn’t been used for much. But nature doesn’t seem to care – it’s basically a native wildflower meadow - Waun Y Gegin/ Cae Bach y Ffynon
Once split into two fields, this is now one sloping field. As the names translate to ‘Moor of the Kitchen’ and ‘Little Field of the Well’ it’s fair to assume this was historically a wet field that was used for growing food for the farm.
Cae Bach seemed the obvious place to start as it’s easily accessible, not too big, and a lovely, peaceful place to hang out.
The design
I have recently been studying an excellent Permaculture Design course at the Environment Centre, and so I was keen to use all my newly acquired knowledge to design a nature friendly planting scheme for the lavender field.
The main priorities were
- Planting multiple lavender varieties to extend the growing season and (hopefully) give us resilience in extreme weather
- Ensure plenty of edge – ie niches and multiple habitats for wildlife to thrive
- Prioritise soil health, so not exposing soil, using cover crops, weed suppressants or mulches, and avoiding chemicals
- Considering water and flow, so thinking about the way pathways might get compacted and cause water to pool or flow in unwelcome ways, potentially eroding soil or causing waterlogged areas. Also thinking about ditches, ponds and so on.
- Pollinators – I wanted to ensure enough habitat and forage for a healthy population of pollinators, from bees to beetles, which we know will help other species to thrive too (such as birds and reptiles). That means going beyond lavender alone and ensuring field margins and hedges having enough food and places for bugs to live
- People – we want to engage people and help them enjoy the space and learn about nature. So that means making the field a fun place to be.
With all that in mind, I first explored the idea of a checkerboard pattern of different lavenders, incorporating a maze design and a pond. But then came the lightbulb moment!
The honeycomb lightbulb
I started thinking about the maze, and it suddenly came to me. Instead of squares, what about taking a leaf from the honeybees’ book and using hexagons? Hexagons are one of nature’s most efficient shapes. They are strong, don’t use too much material in their construction and fit together perfectly without wasting space.
The idea soon evolved. We’d mark out 20 massive hexagons in the field, and plant each one with a different variety of lavender, planted at different orientations. Seven of the hexagons would form an interlinking, meandering maze, while the gaps at the edges would provide extra habitat and wiggly field margins. We’d trial different mulches – sheep’s wool, strulch – and see what worked well.
With help from the Ffermio Bro grant for sustainable schemes on National Landscape farms, we were all set and we ordered what we needed.
The first lavender plants arrived in May. We ordered six different varieties all in 9cm pots, from British growers, hoping the lavender would be better acclimatised to British weather. A further two deliveries arrived in July and August. And we were gifted a lot of wool – almost 20 massive bags of raw fleeces from local Gower farms.
We also employed local nature-first gardening company, Wyld Gardening, and their team helped us plant and tend to the field.
Unforeseen circumstances
What we hadn’t anticipated was a record-breaking summer of heatwaves. We managed to plant three hexagons with lavender before the heat caught up with us. And then the soil became too dry to plant small, tender plants out.
Watering became our main concern – both the plants in the three hexagons but also the thousands we still had in pots. It was an exhausting and sometimes heartbreaking endeavour. We estimate we lost about 10 per cent of our plants.
However, on the plus side the sheep’s wool was an absolute triumph. Where we used fleece the lavender plants stood up well to the heat. We noticed the wool insulated the soil, keeping it cooler and helping it retain moisture, so it didn’t need as much water. Nearby weeds also enjoyed this benefit, so we did have some problems wrestling grass and docks. We also found the wool sometimes crept about and smothered some plants.
But we responded by refining our technique, using squares of cardboard with crosses cut into them as collars, to keep the wool back from the crown of the plant, and block light from surrounding weeds.
So now what?
Since the start of September we’ve enjoyed cooler temperatures and more rain, which has helped considerably. Since then we’ve planted another six hexagons, and about 2,000 plants, and we are working hard to get the remaining 1,800 plants in the ground before winter.
We’ve also done lots of work on establishing a pond and sustainable drainage, clearing ditches and planting native wildflower seeds in any exposed patches of soil on the field margins.
The honeycomb field is taking shape. In fact it’s looking really exciting. I can’t wait til next spring to see it all come to life and hopefully all our hard work will pay off.
