when its warm enough.. to avoid frosts and freezes.. the whole tray should go outside to shade... to start hardening them off to temps.. and sunlight ...

they are probably too young to get in the ground.. and get enough roots to thrive when the heat starts climbing in a few weeks ...

i would probably let them get a bit bigger .. and pot them up.. and grow them until fall .. when temps are on the decline .. and then get them in the ground ...

lol .. getting this far.. is usually only the beginning of the real work with growing seeds .. lol

ken

When I grew lavender, one thing that really struck me was just how much root growth occurred compared to the amount of top growth. They were less than an inch tall, and already totally rootbound in six-packs. So do watch root growth in addition to what you can easily see.

I usually transplant seedlings into potting soil and six-packs. If the spacing is OK, and you'd rather leave them be for now, I would give them half strength fertilizer.

Sounds like all good advice here, but I'd like to drop a bit of advice when it comes time to plant your lavender into their permanent places. I've successfully grown the same beautiful lavender plants for the last 10 years in the same place by doing the following:

Don't plant in the shade. They absolutely love full sun and thrive in the heat. I live in zone 7 and seldom water them in summer. Just remember they come from the Mediterranean region of the world: Southern France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc. Hot, sunny, and dry.

Plant in very well-drained soil. My husband put in shovel loads of sand into the lavender bed we made. They absolutely HATE wet clay soil, so amend it if that's what you have. Make sure you buy the type of sand to use with plants! I forget what type of sand its called.

Prune them back each spring or you'll have thin, straggly lavender. Cutting them back will encourage really bushy, thick plants that have lots of flower spikes. Heavenly to see and smell!

And you can get a second flush of flowers if you cut off all old flower spikes when they're done. Simply cut off the top six or eight inches and you'll get a second bloom! I use sharp hedge shears.

Watch for spider mites in the heat of summer. Simple spraying every 10 days works.

And last, but not least, they WILL reseed for you. You'll find lots of baby lavender growing around the parent plants when Fall comes around! I grow the variety called Hidcote.

Good luck!

Thats for the good advice, everyone. I have them in small clear plastic cups right now so I will be able to check their root development to a certain extent. I will also start giving them diluted fertilizer and get them outside in a sheltered spot out of the sun.

And yep I have horrible clay soil. I have learned to raise the soil level and amend everything. I think the sand is builders sand if I am not mistaken. I used quite a bit of it not too long ago to help build a raised bed for a work in progress butterfly garden.

Thanks again everyone!