I've followed the thread on bay with interest.
My bay is too young yet to take leaves from, so I asked my aunt to get me
some from her 7ft high one.
She snipped some off complete with stems and I noticed that on the stems
there were little bunches of peppercorn-like thingies in clusters of three.
I assume these are the seeds, what's the chances of propagating from these?

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

Tina

On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message ...
In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top
of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.


Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-)
Let's not all get distracted by the part of my post that describes how I
dried bay leaves.
My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems the seeds,
and can I propagate them?
Does anyone know, has anyone tried it?
Tina

Christina Websell writes
Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-) Let's not all get
distracted by the part of my post that describes how I dried bay
leaves. My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems
the seeds,

I've already answered that one!

--
Kay

Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message ...
In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top
of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)
I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.
Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.


Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-)
Let's not all get distracted by the part of my post that describes how I
dried bay leaves.
My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems the seeds,
and can I propagate them?
Does anyone know, has anyone tried it?

No, they are flower-buds.

--
Rusty

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message ...
In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on
top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)
I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.
Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.


Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-)
Let's not all get distracted by the part of my post that describes how I
dried bay leaves.
My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems the
seeds, and can I propagate them?
Does anyone know, has anyone tried it?

No, they are flower-buds.

--
Rusty

aw, what a pity, I was going to start a bay tree farm ;-)
Tina

wrote:

/prune/

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

No reason why - our bay trees were originally planted at the end of the
first world war, and they were still there last time I looked.

This was in Essex, which was not the warmest part of the UK during the
winter.

--
Rusty

In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

No reason why - our bay trees were originally planted at the end of the
first world war, and they were still there last time I looked.

They were killed in 1962-3 near Salisbury, and used to get killed in
the 1970s and 1980s in Cambridge (mostly pot-planted ones, true).
My experience is that their top growth is killed by sustained cold
(say, -15 at night and -5 during the day), and that only the best-
established plants will regrow from their roots after their top
growth is killed, at least if the ground froze to some depth. My
mother's large ones (Salisbury) didn't resprout until 1964 (sic).



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

writes
In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

No reason why - our bay trees were originally planted at the end of the
first world war, and they were still there last time I looked.

They were killed in 1962-3 near Salisbury, and used to get killed in
the 1970s and 1980s in Cambridge (mostly pot-planted ones, true).
My experience is that their top growth is killed by sustained cold
(say, -15 at night and -5 during the day), and that only the best-
established plants will regrow from their roots after their top
growth is killed, at least if the ground froze to some depth. My
mother's large ones (Salisbury) didn't resprout until 1964 (sic).

When we moved into our house in 1990, the previous owner told us that
the bay tree outside the library window was regularly cut down by the
frost. But since then, winters have been a lot milder, so it basically
kept growing until we finally removed it (1) to make way for the fig
that we had to move to make way for the new porch ...

gardening can be so complicated sometimes!

(1) We still had two other bay tree elsewhere in the garden.
--
Kay

wrote:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:
If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

No reason why - our bay trees were originally planted at the end of the
first world war, and they were still there last time I looked.

They were killed in 1962-3 near Salisbury, and used to get killed in
the 1970s and 1980s in Cambridge (mostly pot-planted ones, true).
My experience is that their top growth is killed by sustained cold
(say, -15 at night and -5 during the day), and that only the best-
established plants will regrow from their roots after their top
growth is killed, at least if the ground froze to some depth. My
mother's large ones (Salisbury) didn't resprout until 1964 (sic).

Probably different origins then. We had some very hard winters in the
higher ground above the Thames Valley.

Indeed, I can remember the sea freezing at least as far round the coast
as Shoeburyness.

--
Rusty

On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:21:25 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Don't bay branches burn beautifully. I've not encountered anything
which burns so fiercely immediately after pruning. It's the essential
oils I assume.

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
Don't bay branches burn beautifully. I've not encountered anything
which burns so fiercely immediately after pruning. It's the essential
oils I assume.

Pam in Bristol


and make a noise as they burn :-))

--
Mike

The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rneba.org.uk
Luxury Self Catering on the Isle of Wight?
www.shanklinmanormews.co.uk

On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 12:07:48 -0000, "'Mike'"
wrote:




"Pam Moore" wrote in message
Don't bay branches burn beautifully. I've not encountered anything
which burns so fiercely immediately after pruning. It's the essential
oils I assume.

Pam in Bristol


and make a noise as they burn :-))

Who needs fire-crackers! I'm looking forward to pruning mine on the
allotment this year.

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

Don't bay branches burn beautifully. I've not encountered anything
which burns so fiercely immediately after pruning. It's the essential
oils I assume.

Yes. I haven't noticed a major flavouring effect when used on the
barbecue, though :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.