I’ve always wanted a bay laurel. No kitchen is complete without one. But we never have them at the plant sale at Rutgers Gardens. You can imagine my excitement when I found one last fall at a local nursery. It leans to one side but it was the last one that they had in stock and it was on sale so I snatched it up. I bought it a large pot, also on sale, that will look lovely in my garden when I bring it outside in the summer. Don’t you love end of season sales?
So far it has been doing well in my kitchen. It hasn’t dropped any leaves nor has it grown much so I probably won’t have to do any pruning in the spring. A little fertilizer should be sufficient to carry it through the growing season.
I’m looking forward to many years of harvesting leaves to dry and use when I cook. To find out how to dry them, as well as how to grow a bay laurel in your own kitchen, read my article Bay Laurel.
One Comment on “A Bay Laurel in My Kitchen”
In my city we have a communal gedran which is free to all residents though you have to apply to receive a plot, designate the plants you intend on putting in there and donate some time to maintaining common areas, like pathways. Our recreational department handles the community gedran, hold composting and other classes there and processes the applications. If you have a recreational department in your city, contact them to see whether they are responsible for or even have a community gedran. Since our local water utility provides the water for the gedran and sponsors it, they often send out notices with the water bill when drought tolerant gedraning classes, zeroscapes and other events are being held there. I contacted them to get the referral to our rec department and they may be just as helpful in your quest for your city. Finally, whenever I have a question about what is available in my city, I call the Information Officer at our city hall. She is a wealth of information, can usually give me direct contacts with their phone numbers and knows literally everything available to our city’s residents. Your city may have one too. Finally, almost every community has a Master Gardener available to answer questions to gedraners, troubleshoot, give advice, etc. Ours is located at the University and in some city’s they have their own office. Try calling the Horticultural Department at your local university or community college, or the Agricultural Extension for your county, as they often provide speakers at community gedran events. They know where gedraners can gedran! Good luck.