VIDEO: Peter Dowdall - Lavender, a fantastic addition to any garden.

Any plant that has a use outside of the garden can be termed a herb. 

That use doesn’t have to be in the kitchen though nowadays many of us think of herbs only in terms of cooking and flavouring.

When you think of plants and their uses in these terms then many plants can be considered as herbs.

Iris foetidissima for example, the stinking iris has roots that can be pulped and used to make ink and indeed this is one of the plants that is thought to have been used to make ink for the Book of Kells. The dark, black seedpods of Fuchsia are used to make a clothes dye.

Medicine of course has its roots (sorry about the pun) steeped in the garden with many modern drugs and remedies coming directly from plants such as Digitalis and Taxus with many others based on synthetic plant extracts.

If all it takes is one use to be termed a herb then there is one plant that can be called a herb many times over for it has numerous uses.

One of the most well known and instantly recognisable plants in the garden, you’ll often smell it before you see it and no self respecting garden should be without it.

If your garden is all about nature and we as gardeners should be helping the natural world all around us then this is an essential plant drawing in the bees, attracted to its rich nectar and who will pollinate all about them in thanks.

If all you want for your garden is a thing of beauty and something attractive to look upon then this is a must. If you lust after heady summertime aromas wafting across the deck then this plant again makes the cut or maybe you want something to provide you with ingredients for dessert or you want to use the plant to put in the bath to help you relax or you wish to dry the petals and place under your pillow to help you with a good nights sleep.

Whatever the question, Lavender is the answer. A simple terracotta pot for the long hot summer we will surely have filled with Lavandula stoechas, the butterfly Lavender will help you feel like you’re on the Mediterranean allowing that momentary escape from the reality of everyday life.

A well maintained lavender hedge can be a sight to behold, simply flanking the sides of a path or encircling a bed of herbs or flowers. The two words ‘well maintained’ there are important however for a poorly maintained Lavender hedge is not quite the same sight to behold.

Lavender, be it the Butterfly type referred to above or a variety of English Lavender Lavandula angustifolia needs work.

READ MORE: VIDEO (WEEK 7) Peter Dowdall explains how to get a handle on weeds .

The flower stems should be removed throughout the summer as they fade and go over removing the stem and cutting back a small bit into the foliage and give the complete plant a haircut, again removing the old flower stems and a few centimetres of foliage during September when the flowers are going beyond their best. I could say ‘in September, after flowering’ as the text books will say however Lavender doesn’t really stop flowering during the autumns, it just slows down a bit, stopping during the winter months.

Cut back a bit more during March as temperatures are beginning to increase and growth starting once more. The reason for all this cutting back and pruning is to ensure that your Lavandula, whichever species you opt for stays nice and bushy and doesn’t get woody and leggy.

With many shrubs, if they get unkempt and leggy like this, they will not only tolerate you going out and hacking back they will positively thank you with masses of lush new growth from sown low on the plant. Not so with Lavender.

If you go out and attack with the same gusto and remove much of the woody growth the Lavender will respond in only one way and that is to curl up its leaves and die. Much better to prevent the plant getting to this state in the first place and you can achieve that by regular pruning and ensuring the plant is in the correct place.

Lavender is native to Mediterranean regions where you will see it growing in the poorest of soils, even sand. So remember this when you are introducing it into your garden.

Most gardening is pure common sense and with that in mind if you can recreate similar conditions then you should be successful.

Of course we can’t guarantee full sun and temperatures in the thirties or even the high twenties but what we can do is provide the plants with very open and well drained soil so the roots aren’t sitting in water and the plant isn’t in soil that is too rich with nutrients encouraging too much green and in time woody growth.

No it wants plenty of grit and poor soil. Don’t be tempted to feed it, as it won’t need it.

Of the many uses of Lavender possibly the most important over the years has been its ability to repel moths and flies and thus helping in stopping the spread of the Black Death in London.

People used to tie bunches of Lavender around their wrists to prevent infection and as the disease was spread by fleas which are repelled by Lavender it is thought that this practice may indeed have been responsible for the disease not killing even more.

READ MORE: VIDEO (WEEK 7) Peter Dowdall explains how to get a handle on weeds .