How big do Bay trees grow?

Andy Hamilton · Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:02 pm

Yep wulf I had a look around in my 'libary' (book shelf) and on the internet not much written about bay eh?

wulf · Post: # 3626Post **wulf** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:02 am

Perhaps there's a niche in the market? On the other hand, perhaps there's just not that much to say?

Wulf

Andy Hamilton · Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:38 am

wulf wrote:Perhaps there's a niche in the market? On the other hand, perhaps there's just not that much to say?

Wulf

could be loads to say, trouble is finding the info in the first place, so who knows!
We end up being top searches for the strangest things. Often the niche consists of 2 people a week though.

couscous · Post: # 3823Post **couscous** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 10:25 am

They can be prone to frost damage. There was a magnificant specimin across the valley from us - must have been 25ft high which was killed a few years ago. Very sad. Fortunately mine survived. It's a pity they are so devilishly tricky to propogate. I suppose, with global warming and all that, we wont get such harsh winters and bay trees will thrive?

Andy Hamilton · Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:01 pm

couscous wrote:They can be prone to frost damage. There was a magnificant specimin across the valley from us - must have been 25ft high which was killed a few years ago. Very sad. Fortunately mine survived. It's a pity they are so devilishly tricky to propogate. I suppose, with global warming and all that, we wont get such harsh winters and bay trees will thrive?

depend on what you call 'we' in the south we will have hot weather yet more rain, in the north the chances are will be much colder.

couscous · Post: # 3864Post **couscous** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:31 am

Bath is fairly low lying. I'm further South but live 1000ft up so my 'season' is three weeks behind the local town 5 miles away. The year the bay tree died we had -15 and bay is only supposed to be able to withstand -5. I tend to check the forecast for the Midlands to see what I'm likely to get here. But it is warmer and wetter, and wetter. There is an advantage to living on 'higher ground' - is does run off eventually!

greenchi · Post: # 3867Post **greenchi** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:52 am

My Bay Tree is the as high as I can reach when I stand on my tippy-toes with my garden shears. I made mine into two big pom pom balls. I stand about 164 cms ( 5 foot 4 in)... I keep mine at about 6 footish.
I have seen them as big as a house though.... remember greenbean....size isn't everything ....

alcina · Post: # 3917Post **alcina** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:43 pm

Andy Hamilton wrote:in the south we will have hot weather yet more rain

Yah! That's what they say. Not much evidence of the latter this year! Dryest *ever* so far in my limited experience (and I do recall 1976!). My rain barrels are practically dry already

In my south facing front garden I have to dig down around 10 inches before I get to damp earth! It's like something out of those cowboy films when they're digging graves and it's all just dry soil! This is *so* not England!

Wind...that's what we've had this year...lots of wind. Which just adds to the dryness

Alcina

Andy Hamilton · Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:41 pm

Must be a south west thing then. Does not seem to stop raining, perhaps as we are so close to the Bristol channel. But I bet we still get a hose pipe ban! Might be the wrong type of rain, after waht happend in Boscastle a while back it certainly seems to come down hard and fast.

wulf · Post: # 3927Post **wulf** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:04 pm

Yes - it has been pretty dry round Lewisham. I could do with a couple more water butts for when it does rain - we topped our one up with tap water the other day and then gave the garden a big watering... reducing it almost back to the level where we started!

Fortunately, I've recently extracted another load of 'fairly well done' compost from the compost dalek. It's not exactly turned into the rich black earth that the books talk about (I'm not very careful about layering up different kinds of inputs, it's got too many bits of twig, it's too narrow to build up a good core heat, and it's awkward to aerate.... excuses, excuses!

) but it's good enough for mulching, which should help retain moisture.

Wulf

cheap&cheerful · Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:58 pm

I remember 1976 too.

Water was so short families were bathing together and THEN putting the water on the garden.

Well maybe not TOGETHER but one at a time, in the same water.

I'd of been saying "Me first".."Me first"

It must of been disastrous for people with allotments. Did any of the members now have one then???????????

Jill..

wulf · Post: # 4170Post **wulf** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:53 pm

I was only four at the time! I mainly remember the swarms of pretty little ladybirds!

Wulf

Millymollymandy · Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:34 am

I was at school - I remember it being very hot but nothing about water shortages (you aren't aware of things like that at that age). What I do remember is having a water fight with my friends in the allotments!

couscous · Post: # 4190Post **couscous** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 7:38 am

I remember the swarms of ladybirds well. I was sitting on Brighton beach with some friends. It was the first time I came to realize that ladybirds could bite!!!
I remember too Mum getting us to carry our bath water out in buckets to water the garden.
We have our own water supply now. When we bought the property, the first question I asked was 'did the spring dry up during the summer of 76?'
They said no. We rely on a winter of driving rain to keep the underground supplies up so I do get nervous occasionally.