Bay Laurel: How to Grow - Herb of the Month

Bay stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very Easy, plant and leave
Water:	4/5 – Daily
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun
Training:	1/5 – Minimal (3Ds: Dead, damaged and diseased)
Fertilise/Feeding:	1/5 – Minimal (at least during the growing season)
Time to Harvest:	1/5 – Immediate, yet slow growing
Frost Hardiness:	1/4 – Very tender (can’t cope with light frost), cold tolerant
Uses:	Culinary
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Scale, aphids
Container Plant:	Yes

Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz
1885
Kurt Steuber Online Library

Quick intro

Bay laurel is a lovely upright tree of which its leaves constitute a major part of cooking. It is a staple in Mediterranean cooking and imparts it wonderful flavour to stews, soups, sauces and is a key ingredient in the classic bouquet garni. As a hardy tree it is easy to grow, although a bit slow to do so. As a bonus it can be planted in pots to restrict its growth in confined spaces or in small gardens so that it can be enjoyed by both gardeners and cooks alike!

History

Bay has been a prominent plant for culinary use in both the Mediterranean and Asia Minor where it has its origins. Its history is also steeped in symbolism and mythology. Romans crowned the victorious with a laurel wreath and to the Greeks it denoted honour and wisdom (hence the Nobel laureate awards). In Greek mythology the water nymph Daphne is transformed into a bay tree during her pursuit by love-struck Apollo.

Apollo and Daphne 1622 - 1625 by,
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680)

Science Stuff

Bay, Laurus nobilis, belongs to the avocado family Lauraceae, which also includes cinnamon. It contains of a volatile aromatic oil cineole, which is the same oil found in Eucalyptus (eucalyptol) and contributes to its distinct flavour.

Cineole (Eucalyptol)

Growing & Pruning Bay

Bay is very easy to grow once you have placed it in a sunny position with good draining soil and regular watering. It is cold tolerant but will become damaged due to frost, therefore some shelter or frost fleece is necessary in frost prone areas. It is a very slow grower so some patience is required in order to receive abundant leaves for regular cooking. It can become a very large tree in an open garden; up to 20 meters under special circumstances! 

It makes an exceptional pot specimen both for the smaller herb garden and as a handsome ornamental tree. Bay trees are very good for topiary designs, but as I mentioned they do grow slowly so shaping will be a several year project.

Other Tips

Pruning of the bay tree is hardly necessary unless you want a single stem or topiary specimen. I find that mine grows excruciatingly slow and hence I do not prune it at all.

Bay laurel leaves
Laurus nobilis

Aphids can infest new growth and scale might become a problem during the winter months. Both of the pest species I have discussed in their separate articles as well as developing environmental friendly homemade pest control for each. See my Pest Control page for more information.

Harvesting & Storing

Fresh bay leaves are preferable in cooking as the cineole oil, which is essential for flavour, completely evaporates from the dried leaves after a year of storage.

Bay laurel flowers
 Laurus nobilis

Leaves are hard and should be removed from the dish prior to serving. The essential oil present in the leaves and berries can be toxic in large doses as well as causing an allergic reaction to some when used externally.

Seed Saving & Propagation

I have never seen bay flowers personally as mine has never bloomed, but they do produce minimally scented, waxy pale yellow flowers in late spring. These are followed by single-seeded, dark green to black berries in autumn.

It is not common to propagate bay from seed as it takes anywhere from 5-12 months for the seeds to germinate. Other propagation techniques include semi-hardwood cuttings in summer from the current year’s growth as well as plant division in spring or autumn. 

My Bay

I purchased my bay tree in 2013 and it has been in the same pot and position ever since. It has grown very slowly at first but has gone through quite a grow spurt in the last year and here is another picture of it as of today (2016).

Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
2013

Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
2016

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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

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Drought Angels SA: Farmers in Distress, Boere in Nood & Water Shortage SA

South Africa is suffering from a potentially crippling drought brought on by the worst El Nino in decades. Many farmers and villages do not have enough water due to poor planning of infrastructure, lack of proper water management & lack of  water-wise use/education.

Several groups have started water and feed supply projects to assist drought stricken farmers and towns. Boere in Nood/Farmers in Distress are arranging the donation and transport of feed for livestock whereas Water Shortage SA are organising water dotations (both drinking water designated "DW" for consumption and tank water "TW" for general use) to towns in the Free State, Northern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. Clean plastic bottles can be filled with water and dropped off at various towns in South Africa, please see the Water Shortage SA facebook page for updates. Please assist with the initiatives! Together we might bring relief and alleviate the worst of the drought!

The following links will give your more information of drop-off places for water (Water Shortages SA) as well as information regarding donations and assistance

Drought Angels SA can be contacted at the following links:

Boere in Nood/Farmers in Distress: Facebook Page, Twitter & Email 
National donations to First National Bank ccount number 625 229 860 43, branch code 250 655
International donations to PayPal account nc.schoombee@gmail.com

Aliwal North Assistance: Contact Deon Smit @ 083 455 2166

Water Shortage SA: Information regarding drop-off towns, see there facebook page

Agri-SA also has a setup a Drought Aid @ http://www.droogterampfonds.co.za/, which includes an SMS payment system as well (Ref 3).


Help has already flooded in from Canada, United States, Nederlands and Australia; an R 100 000 donation has been made by a woman from Dubia to the Farmers in Distress initiative! (See Ref 2)


Reference: 

1) KarooSpace Article @ South Africa's Drought Angels Step Up by Julienne du Toit & Chris Marais

2) News 24 Article @ Aid for drought-stricken farmers from far and wide by Jeanette Chabalala

3) eNCA Article @ AfriForum lauches drought support campaign by Africa News Agency

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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! J

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New Year Post: International Year Events 2016 & Garden Update

The first day of the new year has arrived once more and so we take a look at what the UN has dedicated the year to as well as updates from my garden(s)! Perhaps I'll even inspire additions to the new year's resolutions lists (i.e Eat/Grow more Pulses! LOL!)

International year of Pulses (2016)

This year is the international year of Pulses following on the sustainable agriculture theme from last years' international year of soils. The bunch at the FAO and associates have really embraced social media and have made loads of promotional stuff for me to share with you guys! So to start off, let me give you a summary infographic to get your mouth watering :)

For the last 2-3 years both me and my mom have slowly started to eat less red meat and then less meat all together, which could be a bit difficult at times as you do need some protein in your diet. We started experimenting with some Indian vegetarian dishes that introduced us to the amazing world of beans and other edible legumes. The only thing I associated with edible legumes previously were those awful red kidney sauce beans that my dad eats on his toast - yuck! Now, thought, I eat a lot more beans and chickpeas - the canned ones quickly rinsed under the water (you need to shop for brands to get those that preserve the best flavour). The canned pulses makes for super easy lunches and I must profess that Cannellini (navy) beans my favorite! Also - all the rinse water can go to the vegetable garden so nothing is wasted! Awesome!

Here are some more in-depth infographics on the health and sustianable farming benefits of legumes!

Lastly some recipes! Also I would suggest getting your hands on some Indian recipe books - they make lovely legume stews and an assorment of other not-just-green-salad vegetarian dishes! Now eat your beans and your peas!!!

You can grow your own legumes in the veg garden and as a bonus they help to build up the soil when dug back in as compost. Check out my posts concerning how to grow them as well as soil management using legumes:

How to grow Peas

Natural Biofertilizers: The Edible Legumes

Sustainable, Productive & Economical Vegetable Gardening
            Part 1: Vegetables Worth Growing
            Part 2: Conservation Agriculture
            Part 3: Integrated Organic Gardening
            Part 4: Vegetable Garden Planting Guide & Management

References:

For more information, promotional stuff, recipes and in-depth studies on the socioeconomic benefits of legumes, please see the following websites:

http://www.fao.org/pulses-2016/en/

http://iyp2016.org/

http://americanpulsecrops.org/blog

http://theabsquarters.com/pulses.php


Garden Update



The vegetable garden isn't doing so great this year due to the terrible heat, high solar irradiation and very low rainfall. The El Nino is at its peak; it is the worst since 1982 for South Africa and the plants, insects and chickens are feeling it. There are so few insects in the veg garden, but in comparison, the rest of the yard has even less. So much so that the chickens aren't getting their full quota of bugs. This leads to thin egg shells, as the insect carapaces are the main source of egg calcium and we have had to supplement their diet with extra. Also when the occasional heat wave strikes (our highest was 39oC, 102oF), the chickens stop laying all together. The harvests are a month behind their usual schedule and they are minimal (at about 30% I should wager).

Fortunately we still have a harvest thanks to our monster 10 000 L rainwater tank at the main garden and the 5 000 L at the pumpkin patch - yet the rain has been minimal and at one point the 10 000 L was down to 3 000 L. I was just about having heart palpitations as I thought that we might not make it and my garden would cease to exist! Anyways, the worst of the El Nino ain't letting up until after the winter and we are expected to have hot & dry conditions for another two years. I have a feeling that the winter garden would have to be carrots and beets seeing that last year it was too warm already for peas, beans, cauliflowers and broccoli!

One good thing at least is that the next season should be better on all accounts (heat, rain and harvest) than this year and I am looking forward to a vegetable garden that isn’t already run-down by December. See pictures below: the garden looks like it should in April instead of all green and happy it looks fairly beat up and just about choking!!! Last year's picture is at the bottom for comparison!

Main Vegetable Garden December 2015 (New Year Post 2016)

Main Vegetable Garden December 2014 (New Year Post 2015)

Previous related posts:

Want to see what it looked like last year (2014)? See: New Year Post 2015 & Garden Updates

Want to see what it looked like in 2013? See: New Year Post & Garden Updates 2014

Want to see what it looked like originally? See: About: This Blog


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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! J

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An Introduction to the Soil Micro-Ecosystem Guest Post @ Gardening Know How

An Introduction to the Soil Micro-Ecosystem

I have posted an article on a large website Gardening Know How and to prevent double posting I decided to post a link to the original article here and as mentioned in the post all follow-up articles will also be done @ Roots'n'Shoots.

I would like to send a shoutout at Shelley Pierce, social media coordinator of Gardening Know How for asking me for a post as well as hosting the article! Thank you for the opportunity it is well appreciated. So in my default scientific setting the post is a bit on the uncommon topic of the Soil microecosystem, but more importantly on how to utilise this natural process to your food growing advantage. Considering that 2015 is the international year of soils I thought it be suitable contribution to the movement too!

Please find the articles at the following links:

Original Article @ Gardening Know How 

Social Media Sharing Links:
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Pinterest

Enjoy!


TTFN - TaTa For Now!
- The Shroom -


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If you enjoy the content please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! J
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Aphids – Pest of the Month

Aphids at a glance

Type of Damage	Pierce-sucking
Plant Symptoms	Stunted growth, leaf curl, transmit diseases
Favourite Plant	All plants
Occurrence	Year-round in areas with mild winters (SA)
Distribution	Worldwide
Control	Difficult, physical preferable, biological control agents available

Apple Aphid
Aphis pomi

Quick Intro

Aphids are an ubiquitous pest species, if you have ever taken care of a plant – you would have most certainly run into these nasties! I absolutely loathe aphids – my friend could never understand why until she started a vegetable garden herself, now she is as much an aphid hater as me LOL! They multiply at an enormous rate and no plant is beyond their reach, they are equally difficult to control and counteract, especially when tended to by ant herders.

Science Stuff

Aphids belong to eponymous family, Aphididae, contained within the larger order of Hemiptera. They were previously grouped under the order Homoptera, which included soft-bodied insects whose wings are fully membranous, but recently they have been placed with Hemiptera along with insects whose wings are partially hardened elytra. They are placed under the Sub-order; Strenorrhyncha and Superfamily; Aphidoidae.

Winged Aphid Morphology

Aphids have a worldwide distribution and can spread passively by wind or through human transportation. About 4400 species are presently described and 250 species are known agricultural pests, allowing the family as a whole to feed on a wide range of plant hosts. 

Hosts

Many people believe (me too at some point) that aphids are generalists and feed on whatever plants are available, but strikingly a lot of aphids are monophagous, meaning they are plant species-specific. Hence aphids are named after the host plant they infest, such as the green apple aphid (Aphis pomi) or the common rose aphid (Macrosiphon rosae). To the vegetable gardener aphids can be a huge problem amongst plants of the cabbage family (including Asian greens, cauliflower and broccoli), tamarillos and plants that have been newly transplanted or are still establishing.

Aphid infestation
Adults, nymphs and shedded skin

Life Cycle

During the majority of the aphids’ life cycle they reproduce asexually by means of parthenogenesis and thus offspring are essentially cloned females. Aphids are one of the few insects to bare live young (viviparous) even without prior fertilisation. Aphids produce eggs after sexual reproduction when the host plant becomes crowded or temperatures drop and daylight decreases towards winter. Wingless (clone) females produce sexual male and female clones, these mate and the subsequent eggs overwinter until favourable conditions arise in spring. Winged aphids are also produced during unfavourable conditions and are whisked away by the wind to colonise new plant hosts at a distant site. Aphid populations explode easily due to the high reproductive rate of clone females, which are capable of producing up to 41 generations (each have a lifespan of 20-40 days) leading to thousands of aphids in as little as a month.

Aphid life cycle

Control

Aphids first colonise the underside of plant leaves and then move towards the upper side. Their presence is made known by the curling of leaves and stunted growth of the host, especially new shoots which are easier to pierce with their siphon mouthparts. Feeding aphids reduce the vitality of plant hosts by the removal of plant sap, injecting salivary secretions that suppress host defences and transmission of plant viruses. Aphids produce a sugary waste product (honeydew) that can accumulate on leaf surfaces giving them a shiny appearance and in humid weather this build-up can encourage the growth of black sooty mildew, which weakens the host plant even more.

Be aware that if you do use synthetic chemical control. Most of these products are general insecticides and are harmful to other insects, which do not include pest species. Aphids become resistant to chemical pesticides quite quickly due to their extreme reproductive capacity that allows resistant offspring to multiply quickly. For more information see my post on Pesticide Resistance. Chemical control on the eco-friendly side includes neem or lantana-based products, which can be a bit pricey or hard to find. Homemade soap solutions and horticultural white oil can also be applied to infestations as spray-on applications, but I suspect you would have more success by rubbing the plant down with a soft cloth soaked in the solution and rinsing out the accumulated aphids. Physical control is usually the most effective, but can be time consuming or laborious. Physical control measures includes spraying them with a jet of water, but considering the drought we are experiencing - this might not be preferable. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, small infestations can be wiped out by squishing them by hand! You can find my Environmentally Friendly Aphid Control Recipes on my Pest Control Page.

Else you can wait for the natural insect predators of aphids to arrive, but they will likely only do so when you have an infestation of catastrophic proportions! Biological control includes aphids predators, such as jumping spiders, baby mantids, adult lacewings, adult and larval lady bugs as well as the larvae of hoverflies. Please be careful not to destroy already present predators, such as larvae, which are small and sometimes camouflage themselves as pest species. I had a huge infestation of aphids on my fennel one year and decided I was too lazy to spray them the whole time (as eco-friendly controls take multiple applications to work). After some time an army of lady bugs arrived and sorted the aphids in double-quick time – it was quite impressive (and I’ve never had so many ladybugs in my garden before!). You can check out my posts on Biological Control for Ladybeetles, Praying Mantids and Spiders. Other bio-controllers would be parasitic wasps, which you can purchase, but they are more suited to greenhouse release as they fly away easily in open gardens. My Wasp Biological Control post also includes other members that will do away with larger pests such as caterpillars. Having shelter and alternative food plants (for non-predatory lifestages) helps to attract biocontrol agents to your garden, you can have a look at my Insectary Post on how to construct a haven for these insects.

Aphid predators

Something Interesting: Aphid Art

Aphids have a mutualistic relationship with ants, this means that both species benefit from the presence of the other, but can also survive and thrive without one another. Ants are herders of many pest species, such as aphids and scale. As aphids feed they produce a sugary waste product known as honeydew, which ants collect as a food source. The ants in turn protect the aphids from predators and some ants even transport aphids between plants for re-establishment when the ants move to new nesting sites. Ants therefore compound the aphid control problem by actively participating in the infestation. Be on the lookout of large masses of ants running the length of your plants as this is indicative of an aphid farm underway. The homemade soap/oil solutions I have suggested should dissuade the ants as well, but since ants are persistent they'll likely re-appear with a new aphid farm in a few weeks. On another note; here is an artist’s illustration on the subject, which I thought was thoroughly amusing. 

Argentine Ants, conquering new niches thru peace and aphid-herding.

Related Posts:

Biological Control -
Ladybeetles
Praying Mantis
Spiders
Wasps
Insectary: Beneficial Insects and the Garden Security Force

Pesticide Resistance: Mechanisms & Prevention


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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

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