I have started to get together a lot of information on different herbs and veggies to grow in the Spring.
Does anyone know where you can get Bay Leaf seeds? Bay Laurel as its known.
I have found one source
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/
But are there any others ?
For Bay, wouldn't it be better to take cuttings in the spring, I think the seed is meant to be sown in the autumn?
Nicky's nursery has seed, too. Most seed stores best under cold, dry conditions, but bay seed doesn't do well after being dried, which is why it's not more widely offered. Fresh seed sown in autumn generally does OK.
You can propagate bay by cuttings, but it's slow and not easy. The best success rate I have had has been by standing the cuttings in water for a few weeks/months until a callus has formed and then trying to root them with lots of mist and bottom heat, but even then, not many seem to take. My bay hedge is about 8ftx10ftx4ft and takes a fair bit of pruning each year, so I've had a lot of potential cuttings to play with.
For not much more than the price of a packet of seeds, you can usually buy a pot containing 10 or 12 30cm high 18 month old seedlings, from the DIY sheds in spring.
I've had the same experience as Ceratonia with bay cuttings, tried for a couple of years and gave up eventually, managed to get a seedling from DIY shop and it's done really well. I would imagine seed would take 2 or 3 years to grow enough to get to the stage where you can start harvesting the leaves, so I'd go for buying a small seedling every time.
I have lots of bay tree seeds, collected in october 2006
Mike Woodhouse. e-mail : mikewoodhouse77@btopenworld.com
Sounds like i should buy a small established one, but thanks for the offer.