Something on the Light Side: Edible Cartoons

So this post is simply an indulgence in some fantastic vegetable cartoons! These are all done by a very talented artists over at DeviantArt - Crypid-Creations. Enjoy!

Rattishes

Rattishes by Crypid-Creations

Broccollie

Broccollie by Crypid-Creations

Avacato

Avacato by Crypid-Creations

Pea-cock

Pea-cock by Crypid-Creations

CrabApples

CrabApples by Crypid-Creations

Dragon Fruit Keeper

Dragon Fruit Keeper by Crypid-Creations

;)

Lacewings: Biological Control - Garden Critter of the Month

Lacewings at a glance

Occupation:	Predator
Value to Gardener:	5/5 - Pest Controller
Danger to Humans:	2/5 – Harmless
Availability:	5/5 – They’ll arrive or you can buy some

Lacewing Lifecycle: Chrysopa vulgaris
by Lydekker, R.
1879
The Royal Natural History.
Volume 6.
Frederick Warne and Co.
(from www.archive.org)

Quick Intro

Lacewings adults are delicate wee fairy-folk of the vegetable garden… but do not let them fool you as they are voracious hunters of pest insects and their larvae are known as ‘aphid lions’ with the looks to match!

Lacewing first instar larvae and egg cases on stalks

Science Stuff

Lacewings belong to the Neuroptera family of insects – they are not flies, in fact they are more closely related to beetles than flies (Ref 1). The order as a whole is very distinct in both their adult and larval appearance. Adults have elongated bodies reminiscent of dragonflies, but with transparent veined wings held in a dome above the body and iridescent eyes. Larvae have different body shapes and are similar in appearance to ladybug larvae but have very large mandibles. Several families are found within the order, but most of the pest controllers are located within the Chrysopidae family.

Habitat

As with many other pest predators; they will be attracted to areas with lots of prey species. Those most commonly found in gardens are the most widespread throughout South Africa. They are attracted to lights and thus you might find them inside the house – scoop them up and release back to the garden!

The 3 common species to look out for are:

1. Green lacewing: Chrysoperla species are green with a ~3 cm body and their wings have no markings. Found throughout South Africa.

Green lacewing,
Chrysoperla species

2. Yellow lacewing: Ceratochrysa antica are yellow and slightly larger than the green lacewing. Wings also have no markings. Likely to be found in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the eastern parts of the North West province.

Yellow Lacewing,
 Ceratochrysa antica

3. Grey lacewing: Chrysemosa jeanneli are smaller than the green lacewings with grey bodies and grey wings. They have a distinctive black spot on the mid hind margin of their wings, which meet up when their wings are at rest. Found throughout South Africa.

Grey lacewing,
 Chrysemosa jeanneli 

The best way to attract predators is to limit synthetic pesticide use in the garden and to opt for environmentally friendly versions, which will not harm them (See my Pest Control Page). Unfortunately, pest populations have to become gargantuan in order to attract pest predators, but once they arrive they will sort out the infestation in double-quick time! For the adults who may feed on pollen/nectar – be sure to have plenty of small bloom plants as these are more suited to these insect’s size to get ahold of the contents. Lacewings have a preferential liking of Asteraceae flowers (sunflower, cosmos, dandelion) that make several tiny flowers in large clusters, as well as flowers from the Apiaceae family (dill, fennel and angelica).

Diet

In the family Chrysopidae, adults and larvae are mostly predatory and will feed on aphids and other soft-bodies homopterans (mites, scale, leafhoppers and mealy bugs). Adults from the grey lacewings are suspected to be pollen and nectar feeding (and hence might help out with pollination when feeding). Lacewing larvae are known as ‘aphid lions’ or ‘aphid wolves’ as they are able to devour up to 100 aphids a week! Grey lacewing larvae also display a type of camouflage behaviour by carrying devoured prey carcasses on their backs! [See Picture Here].

Green lacewing adult eating aphids

Green lacewing larvae eating microscopic scale 

Lacewings: Mantidflies and Antlions

The order of Neuroptera have additional members outside of the agricultural pest control familes with some of the most interesting morphologies and lifecycles. These include the Mantidflies or mantispids (Mantispidae), which resemble miniature mantid-wasps! Adults use their raptorial forelimbs to grasp prey just like mantids. Mantidfly larvae feed on young spiders or spider eggs and pupate inside the egg sacs. 

Mantidfly wasp mimic,
 Pseudoclimaciella species 

Antlions are the largest family of lacewings, best known for their whirl sand burrows wherein they catch unsuspecting ants. The larvae sit at the bottom of the funnel pit and when an ant happens to fall in it is unlikely to escape before the antlion snatches it up with its mandibles - although some jumping behaviour has been observed by would-be victims with various results. Antlion adults are large, lazy fliers. Some have spotted wings and/or resemble damselflies. 

Spotted winged Antlion,
Dendroleon obsoletus

Ant traps - there be lions!

For some websites where you can purchase lacewing eggs (Note these are likely not going to ship outside of the US!): Planet Natural & Arbico Organics

[Unfortunately such companies are not available in South Africa - we have to resort to the old fashioned way = by nature!]

Ref 1: Neuroptera Phylogeny

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Lessons from Gardening in a Drought

As the world goes round and progresses through each of its cycles El Nino has claimed its turn with a triumphant roar this year! The Northern Hemisphere has reported record crop yields, lots of rain and bountiful snow. The Southern Hemisphere (specifically Africa) has reported widespread crop devastation and several areas had declared natural disaster zones! Here I will be posting the seasons’ fight against the worst drought to hit South Africa since records started in 1904 (second lowest annual rainfall was 1945, but the longest dry period was 1930-1933, see Ref 1), the observations I made, the final throw in of the proverbial towel and the plans for the coming winter.

My vegetable garden has already experienced below average rainfall for the 2014/15 summer season and the 2015/16 round was looking dire. Early rain in September (51 mm, 42 mm more than last year) gave me hope, but almost no rain in October and November (46 mm for both months, ~30% of the rain than last year) had nearly wiped out our 15 000 L of stored rainwater. The high heat, solar radiation and measly rain had left the vegetable garden battle fatigued – not to mention the household as well since we couldn’t seem to gather enough grey water from the house to keep everything in the yard alive and we worked like slaves to save the plants (and wild animals, by means of the chicken waters being drained every day).

A quick table of our rainfall for this summer season (and a comparison to last year's):

Rainfall	2014/15	2015/16
Aug	5	10
Sep	9	51
Oct	29.5	11.5
Nov	111.3	34.5
Dec	125.5	124.5
Jan	126.5	143.7

Much needed rainfall in December and January refilled the tanks, much to my relief as well because I was starting ‘prioritise’ plants for watering – some losses were inevitable. The garden did not do well mostly due to the fact that it only received enough water to stay alive let alone provide a decent crop. Some vegetables did fair better than others, so here is a quick list for drought “viable” crops:

Tomatoes – did especially well in the vegetable cage, we had an overflow

Beets & Carrots – did not seem to mind the heat and set root very well

Peppers – seeing that the fruit is mostly hollow, little water is used and fruiting isn’t impeded by the heat

Peanuts – my ongoing experiment with peanuts actually thrived in the heat!

What about potatoes and sweet potatoes? Not so much, small tuber formation given the litres of water I chucked on them. Pumpkins & Zucchini – nope, very few and tiny fruits. Given the drought I was hopeful for at least 50% of last year’s harvest but then on the 9th of January a freak hailstorm hit Roodepoort and wiped out our harvest – even breaking the vegetable cage (luckily no plants were damaged!)! Our tiny pumpkin harvest, any tomatoes, peppers and other soft fruit that were not completely covered by shade netting got decimated. Those fruits with only a little damaged quickly succumbed to rot in the heat of the following days.

The chicken coop got hailed shut and one of the chickens was being broody in the veld. So we were convinced that she perished in the veld during the hailstorm. Luckily I was at the window when she arrived just after the worst of the hail. I rushed out to grab her but couldn't get the coop open so she went back into the house with me. I dried her off and she stayed in one of the cat boxes overnight. Fortunately she made it through the night and had no injuries - though she was straight out of her broodiness afterwards!

So it is safe to say that after the hailstorm I just basically declared defeat against the elements! I didn’t even want to look at the garden lest alone repair the damage. I think I abandoned it for about a month (fortunately it rained enough during this time and additional losses were avoided)… Presently I have revitalised and resuscitated most of the garden and have made some plans for the winter.

Initially I did not want to plant any vegetables for the winter as last year’s winter garden was a disaster because it was merely too warm for the winter vegetables to crop properly. I have been hearing rumours of a cold winter this year and the outrageous food prices have given me new motivation to plant everything under winter veg!

I am planning the bulk of the winter vegetable garden in the vegetable cage – it is a lot colder there in the winter than the main garden since it is situated in a dip of the yard. The vegetable cage will housing the bulk of the vegetables, such that I’ll plant all the cabbages we eat (tender stem broccoli, cauliflower, pak choy and leaf cabbages), leafy greens (lettuce & baby dash spinach) and lots of peas! The main garden I have reserved for soil building and leafy vegetables that can cope better with more warmth, such as wild clover (to be turned into the soil at seasons end), bush beans, Swiss chard (lots of Swiss chard so that the chickens can have their beloved greenies in winter too) and tons of onions (spring, shallot and leeks!).

Main lesson from gardening in a drought? Well you better plant a whole lotta flippin’ tomatoes!

Ref 1: de Jager, Elsa (13 Jan 2016). South Africa – Annual Total Rainfall. South African Weather Service, pp 1-4.

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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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Solar Power in South Africa Part 4: Capacity, Design and Back-up Supply; Living with Solar in Gauteng, South Africa

Capacity, Design & Back-up Supply (Author: The Economist)

A real life true journey of a South African family to go off-grid on sustainable energy supply and usage.

Capacity:

How big must my solar system be was probably the first question that we needed to answer. Every family will have its own needs, its own budget and its own unique circumstances. The following factors played a large role in our decision making about the size of the system:

1. Economic viability: We calculated the expected cash payments which we will probably make over the next ten years to pay for electricity supply. We realised that it is an estimation so we required a large positive margin for error. Our calculations showed that we would pay away approximately R400,000 for electricity over the next 10 years. Next we calculated our expected electricity needs and found that we had to provide for about 15kwh daily use in high summer to about 30kwh use in high winter. These usage levels were achieved only after converting our electricity utilisation to high levels of efficiency (see our article here). We then obtained quotes and with some negotiation were able to install a system which will meet our needs at R200,000 which left us with a 100% positive margin for error. Understanding the technical requirements for calculating interest we did an easy to use calculator for establishing the economic value available to purchase a solar system (Viability Model, which we shared with you here).

2. Managing electricity consumption: The next factor which we initially underestimated but have since come to fully appreciate is how and when we use electricity.

(i) The first major impact is night and day. Seemingly obvious but the full design and financial impact is not immediately visible. With solar you will have electricity generation during the day only and will rely on batteries to get you through the night. It follows that with solar you want to schedule as much electricity consumption as possible during the day and as little as possible during the night. Yet, the supply of charge to the batteries must not be affected. Electricity hogs simply cannot run at night as the battery supply required will break most budgets. So no more tumble dryer at night, no conventional oven after dark (we successfully use a convection oven and pressure cooker), no electric stoves (we use induction plates) or electric heaters (we use gas heaters only) at night.

(ii) The second major impact is electricity generation time zones. A solar system has high electricity generation time zones (middle of the day) and low electricity generation time zones (about two hours each early morning and late afternoon). In deep summer the high generation zone runs from about 07h30 to 17h30 (about 10 hours) and in deep winter the high generation zone runs only from about 09h30 to 15h00 (only about 5.5 hours).  For more details see our article on seasonal changes here. It is best to restrict the household electricity load during low generation periods. In the early morning hours, electricity is needed to fill the batteries after having depleted them overnight and the late afternoon generation again must be mostly used to ensure that the batteries are fully charged to capacity for overnight needs. Most solar systems will be producing excess electricity during the high generation time zone so the best time to run energy hogs such as the heat pump, the oven, the tumble dryer, etc. is in the high generation time zone. Note how you will have 10 hours in summer to run the tumble dryer but only 5 hours in deep winter, which will require you to spread your washing over days in winter rather than having a single washing day.  We are blessed as our family business is on the same premises as our residence so we can manage electricity consumption 24/7 to schedule our use. The scheduling impact on the solar system is – the higher your ability to schedule usage, the lower your need for batteries, to a lesser extent panels for generation and back-up supply.

(iii) The third major impact is the occurrence of overcast conditions, how often do they occur and how long does these conditions generally last. Solar electricity generation falls dramatically during even only partial overcast conditions and electricity generation is negligible during rainy or dark overcast conditions. You batteries must tide you over during rainy and overcast conditions. The fact is, unless you install budget breaking battery back-up and excessive power generation, you will deplete your batteries sooner rather than later and will have a solar load shedding event. Each household will have to find their own balance between having battery reservoirs and alternative electricity back-up solutions. We have been using the municipal electricity as back-up during our transition from municipal supply to solar supply. There simply is no need to rush the process. It is best to allow the transition to take place at a leisurely pace as the household adjust to the dynamics of the solar supply. We have experimented with solutions to bridge the electricity supply gap of overcast and rainy conditions and have found that we can generally re-schedule the use of the tumble dryer and oven without too much difficulty, can use gas for cooking and have invested in a pure sinewave generator to supply electricity to charge batteries when they are depleted. These solutions are economical and cost effective. We will only relinquish the municipal electricity supply once we have thoroughly tested these solutions. We want to go fully off-grid as Joburg Power charge us a basic R605 monthly fee for electricity supply even if we use no electricity and the value of that monthly fee is significant over time (the municipality frequently increases this charge). Thus our back-up alternatives are tested for economic viability against the cost of municipal supply back-up. Not all municipalities have this flat fee cost structure so if yours does not have a flat fee then it is the best and most economical to use the municipality electricity as your back-up electricity supply.  See more hereunder in Back-up Supply.

Using a solar electricity supply system requires a balance between economics, utility and household use management. I am reminded of the wonderful maximising of an available resource which I observed on a trip to India many years ago.

Here is a family of five, father, two boys and mother with baby travelling with extreme efficiency and within a limited budget. Your household budget and your ability to manage your utility will define your solar system but you would find a viable solar system for every budget with some clever planning.

Design:

Designing your “off-grid” solar system is not nearly as complicated as you think. Yes, there are some technical parts better left to your supplier but you can take charge of the process. You have 4 basic components in your system; solar panels, an inverter(s), a battery bank and back-up. Terminology such as “off-grid” often deceives us into rigid thinking when flexible intelligent planning would serve us better. For us, “off-grid” simply means that we are substantially independent in our electricity supply with an economically viable back-up supply in place. The best and by far the most convenient back-up supply is still the municipal supply if one can obtain it cost effectively. Alternative back-up supply should only be considered when municipal back-up supply is prohibitively expensive such as the Joburg Power flat charge.

The four components functions are:

(i) Solar panels generates the electricity and for design purposes must generate sufficient supply to effectively meet the needs of your household. We, for example, know that our general peak need (excluding extremes) is during the winter at around 30kwh per 24 hour period. Thus we know that we need solar panels which will produce around 30kwh during available daylight in deep winter. Our panels are on this specification with no spare capacity in deep winter. It follows that we have significant spare capacity in deep summer as the available daylight hours and more intense radiation in summer almost doubles our generating capacity.

(ii) The inverters receives DC electricity from the solar panels and distributes it to charge the batteries and as AC electricity to the household. The inverters must also supply sufficient electricity to cope with electricity use and with electricity spikes which most appliances generate mostly when they switch on. We have a maximum limit of 8,000 kwh (8 mwh). It translates to an upper limit of “drawing” no more than 8,000 kwh electricity at any point in time including all spikes. Our household needs seldom exceed 6 kwh (usually only when the heat pump, tumble dryer, oven and dishwasher all run at the same time).

(iii) The batteries are your reservoir power to most importantly bridge the night and thereafter to bridge overcast or other extreme conditions. The better you manage your use of electricity combined with a good back-up system the less your need for batteries. Many countries have stable municipal electricity power as back-up and an ability to sell excess electricity back to the municipality making it possible for a solar system to be designed without battery banks or other back-up. We do not have a viable similar system in place so we have to add batteries at least and alternative back-up electricity where municipal back-up is not cost effective. It is not cost effective to provide battery back-up for all eventualities as battery banks are expensive and “eventualities” can be managed with suitable back-up.

(iv) The back-up system or systems is the final component in your system. Do not even bother with back-up alternatives if your municipality does not have a flat fee system, it is best to use the municipality as your back-up supply.

Back-up:

The whole question of back-up electricity supply seldom get any attention yet it is a defining aspect of any solar system implemented. As is almost always the case it is the rands and cents which matters.

Joburg Power charge us a flat fee made up of a Service charge of R105.29, a Network charge of R424.86 and VAT on both of R74.22 for a total flat fee of R604.37 payable irrespective of how much electricity we use unless we disconnect the electricity. Then they charge us on a sliding scale for electricity used, usually around R1 per kwh. So if we were living in a municipality where the only electricity charge was the cost per kwh then using the municipal electricity at R1 per kwh would have been very inexpensive.

The law of averages between a fixed cost (the flat fee) and a variable cost (the R1 per kwh) for us comes into play. We will pay R604.37 plus R1 if we only use 1kwh making the cost of that 1kwh equal to R605.37 which is extremely expensive. The truth is that we are using about 20-30kwh of back-up municipal electricity per month presently and we are expecting it to average even less per month when calculated over a whole year. That means, for us, that the municipal back-up cost per kwh using say 20kwh per month will be (R604.37+R20)/20=R31.22 per kwh. At R31.22 per kwh it is still very expensive to use Joburg Power as electricity back-up.

A 2.6kwa pure sinewave generator suitable for our needs generates 1kwh of electricity at a cost of around R10.35 in fuel consumption. Thus the variable cost for 20kwh per month will be R207. We will need to pay for the generator and we will need to provide for maintenance costs which in our case amounts to a flat cost of R70 per month which brings the generator back-up option cost to R277 per month vs the municipal back-up cost at R624.37. The difference of R347.37 is worth about R54,000 over ten years at an investment rate of only 5% pa so it’s economical for us to rather use a generator back-up supplemented by gas cooking when needed.

The final take-away:

There are two general design alternatives for a household which can manage its electricity use within a given inverter capacity of say 8,000kwh.

• Municipal back-up. If you have the municipality as a reliable, viable and cost effective back-up supplier then you really do not need any batteries at all. You only need to provide limited battery back-up where you only wish to have an electricity reservoir for unreliable municipal supply such as load shedding for the best economic balance between inexpensive solar power during best supply periods and least expensive back-up supply. You would then only install batteries to bridge the load shedding events and nights but rely on municipal back-up to bridge the overcast days. You should be able to recover the cost of a municipal backup system with battery backing for about 33% of average daily use within 5 years and it is the most cost effective system for most South African households where the municipality does not charge a flat fee. Your system must be capable of automatic switching between municipal supply and solar system supply (including batteries) which in most systems are standard.

• Generator (pure sinewave) and gas cooking back-up. The householder will have to provide a greater battery reservoir and alternative back-up solutions in those cases where the municipality imposes a flat fee. Here the householder will have to balance the cost of providing batteries and the need to provide for eventualities. To cover 5 rainy day events one would have to have a battery bank large enough to allow for a 5 day electricity reservoir. The cost benefit calculation is skewed in favour of using an alternative back-up as these extended overcast events in most South African locations are relatively rare. We have chosen a battery reservoir sufficient to bridge 2 days of conservative electricity use in overcast conditions. Those rate events where we have dark overcast conditions for more than 2 days will require running the generator to charge batteries.

The majority of the South African regions are summer rainfall areas and of these only the coastal areas have extended overcast and rainy conditions regularly. Overcast and rainy conditions in winter is a challenge for a solar system as the limited daylight hours and overcast conditions will stress any reservoir system which probably makes it best in those areas to stick with municipal back-up.    


Notes by The Shroom:

The article had been written before we added an additional battery bank to the system (we now have 3x 24 sets) and since the final installation in October 2015 we have not used any municipal electricity and therefore are essentially off-grid! We have not yet pulled the plug on the municipal electricity as we would like to see the system performace during the winter and thereafter would make the final decision on turning off the municipal electricity entirely. Updates will be posted!


Our system has been designed and installed with the assistance of Jurie Venter, cellphone 083 557 6031 and email jurie@sunor.co.za . 


Related Posts:

Part 1: How to go off grid permanently (The System Set-up)
Part 2: Living with Solar in Gauteng, South Africa (Batteries)
Part 3: Solar Power in South Africa - Solar & Seasonality (Solar in winter)


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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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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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