In article , Smutje.12e6d82
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

Hi all,
I just found this site and have a few questions. I am new to gardening
(having bought our house in Dorset only last year and never in my 47
years had a garden) but I would like to give it a go as I have a keen
interest in cooking and would love to produce some of my own stuff.
I have got a Bay Tree that is about 5ft tall and now be thinking of
re-planting it in to the front garden. I want it to grow bigger as I
use bay leaves nearly daily and want the tree to mature before I start
taking the leaves off on a regular base. Is there any specific time to
do it (i.e. spring rather than autumn)?
Also something seems to be eating on it (pictures of the damage can be
found here
http://tinyurl.com/25scov

Look for leaves stuck together with spiders web type threads and you will find
a green catapiller type thing which causes this type f damage on my bay tree. I
just find em and squish em but they probably don't do much harm unles you get a
major infestation.

You also can see the pictures for my second question. My Blackcurrant
bush seems to develop strange wrinkled leaves, some of them with holes
in (again, it looks like something is feasting on it) but I can not see
anything apparent.
Do any of you have got any ideas of what is going on?

I looks like the currant bush may have a virus. These are usually transmitted
by aphids. If you look carefully under the crumpled leaves you may see some of
the little blighters. The leaves will probably come again OK next year

And lastly I would like to take a clipping from my Bay Tree and start
growing a new one with it. I have seen a couple of posts here that say
roughly what to do but any chance of giving me a few more detailed
hints like where to take the clippings from, what to look out for and
how to grow the roots (i.e. do I just stick it in a pot with compost
and hope for the best?
Make some cutting compost by mixing 50% loam or fine potting compost with 50%
sharp sand. Find newly growing twigs on your bay that have 6 to 8 leaves and a
growing tip that has some new folded leaves on them. Tear them gently off the
main stem of the bay including a little bit of the bark of the main stem. Take
off all the leaves except the top pair and the growing tip. Put cutting
compost into a small pot (or you can use plastic cups from vending machines if
you make a hole in the bottom) You may want to dip the ends in rooting hormone
although many people do not bother. personlly I just spit on the ends as my
saliva has naturally occuring rooting hormone in it (as does about 20% of the
population). Push the cuttings in to the compost round the edge of the pot. You
can put 4 cuttings into plastic cup and correspondingly more into a larger
pot. I get about a 90% strike rate using this method.

Gill M