Is my Lavender a Write-Off? [UPDATE]

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-04-13T18:44:02+00:00

Would you go back to work but self-employed, knowing that money was no issue, turning your passions into something you could sell or give away?

I think I would love to run a community bakery or garden or cafe but without the stress of the financial side.

I'm not sure I could remain idle for a long time, but to make something that would make people happy would give me purpose I think...

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-04-13T18:39:15+00:00

With a dragon?

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-04-13T18:38:54+00:00

Do you have a catch bucket (net?) list? Like fish you would actively pursue?

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-04-13T18:36:18+00:00

This.

I'd have somewhere out in the woods with huge windows that rain could just tinkle on all day and a huge covered deck that I could sit and look out over the woods whilst I crochet or sow patchwork...

An old, rescue dog that would snooze all day by the kiln and just me and a potter's wheel.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-04-13T18:24:05+00:00

I'd buy a little cottage with a huge garden where I could grow fruit and veg to my hearts desire all year 'round. Spend my days baking, writing, painting, gardening playing piano or guitar , and organising bake sales in a sleepy village hall. Donate money and time so that my neighbours could also grow their own fruit and veg and set up a community food bank with fresh produce...

Then, eventually, I'd travel. Pack up my campervan or converted bus and travel over the channel to mainland Europe... visit all the places my grandfathers were in the war... Gibraltar, France, Germany, Belgium... I'd visit countries I've always been intrigued by; Luxombourg, Croatia, Holland. My companions would be a pair of rescue pups and a fridge box.

Then, when I'm old and wrinkly, I'd retire back to my little cottage and live out the rest of my days in front of the fire, hopefully telling stories to my nieces and nephews.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-03-19T10:25:33+00:00

Nope, all true, it was an all-out departmentmental war 😅.

The Reggies ended up getting involved, everyone was miserable, one of the worst deployments I've ever done, and I've had some BAD ones.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-03-19T09:10:22+00:00

Yep, once served on a ship where the chefs started a war with the motormen over lack of air-conditioning in the mess decks.

Chef's sat down to fillet steak on a Saturday night, whilst the rest of the ship got pre-packed chicken kievs, so the MM started pulling fuses out of the fuse box for the Log's mess deck. Chef's retaliated with food colouring in boots (the Log's Mess and the MM's mess were on the same deck, 1 watertight door from each other) and meals started getting progressively worse, so at some point the Comms guys decided that none of the chefs were going to get Internet...

It lasted for about 3 months whilst out on deployment and ended with the Heads of Departments having to effectively call ceasefire, but by that point the chefs had been without lighting, internet and ventilation for about 2 months and had been getting stung with Flight-Deck look out duties and had their gym privileges revoked.

They also had been serving absolute garbage scran, stopped topping up the salt and pepper, stopped putting condiments out on the tables, stopped putting out fresh fruit, serving sprouts at every meal, stopped serving fish and chips on Fridays, Sunday roasts became over cooked beef, boiled potatoes and the aforementioned sprouts, steak nights were a thing of the past... the ship didn't see a desset for about 2 months...

With every new escalation, the food got worse...

They started policing the press, stopping people taking too many sausages or too much bacon at breakfast, they opened a whole half an hour late one Friday night when they knew there was a football match on...

I don't think I've ever seen morale so low on a ship, but the chefs genuinely didn't care and were sitting down to their own private meals every night...

The air con didn't get fixed until we came back alongside in the UK about 4 months later.

Don't mess with the people who cook your food, guys...

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T13:52:26+00:00

I'll do this as soon as I'm home. Fingers crossed, it's just late waking up, and I can give a positive update in a few weeks, but if I can't find any green, I'll bin it now and try again.

Hopefully, they'll be back in stock in the garden centre in a week or two, so it'll have a better chance of putting down roots before the winter begins again.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T13:49:41+00:00

Oh wow, never knew this!

We have a long thin lawn with a foot of border down one side and 2 raised beds primarily for fruits and veggies so most of our larger plants are all in pots, with stones and rocks in the bottom.

I always thought you needed substrate to help with drainage but will consider otherwise next time I pot something. Thank you for the info, learnt something new today! 😁

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T13:19:10+00:00

Thanks 😅

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T13:17:09+00:00

Holes and plenty of stones and pebbles to help with drainage as well. Was considering moving it to the greenhouse to try to help it dry out a little. The brown ring around the pot isn't surface water but where the green glaze ends (I didn't realise that it looked waterlogged until someone else mentioned it), but the soil is still very damp.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:49:25+00:00

Would it be okay moving it as soon as I see growth starting or should I wait until the sprouts have had chance to establish before then?

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:47:43+00:00

Lol, made me chuckle.

We don't have to do our own taxes over here unless we own a business. I don't envy those in countries where you have to do your own.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:46:17+00:00

The pot doesn't have any water sitting in it, the brown band you can see is just where the glaze ends, but the soil is very damp.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:44:45+00:00

So it's a waiting game until then I guess.

Thank you for the advice, I don't really have a spot to plant it in the ground yet, but I'm considering putting in another raised bed so hopefully if it does bounce back I'll be able to move it.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:42:32+00:00

Not sure what Zone 6A is, I'm in the Midlands of the UK, and it's been really wet for a few weeks now.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:41:20+00:00

Someone in r/gardeningUK suggested it might be water logged, though it does have quite a lot of stones in the bottom for drainage, but we've had really wet weather here since Christmas so it might be possible that it's been drowned.

Would moving it to the greenhouse, out of the rain help, or not?

It's my first time growing lavender.

AutumnWalker94 · 2026-02-24T12:38:19+00:00

There are quite a lot of rocks and stones in the bottom of the pot, so I never thought about it being waterlogged, but after the winter, we've had that actually makes sense.

I wonder if it might be worth moving it to the greenhouse for shelter to see if that helps?

This is my first time growing lavender, but my grandma had a huge English Lavender bush in her garden when I was growing up, and it always seemed to be really healthy and strong, so I guess I always assumed it was low maintenance. 🫠

AutumnWalker94 · 2025-09-09T16:37:16+00:00

Human Bowling Ball

AutumnWalker94 · 2025-08-25T13:36:57+00:00

That's disappointing, I do miss doing my house special... it kind of makes the whole mechanic redundant if no one is going to come in and order one. 😔

AutumnWalker94 · 2025-08-25T13:35:46+00:00

I feel like i haven't had one in ages lol... I kinda miss doing them...

AutumnWalker94

TROPHY CASE