When I bought my bay tree three years ago, it was not much more than a seedling. Once put into a larger pot it grew well, but was clearly restricted by the pot. Nonetheless, it has already supplied me with enough leaves for my culinary needs.
The carrots which came out in order to accommodate the tree were a bit small. I didn’t feel I could wait any longer, though. The pot it was in will probably be needed for peppers or tomatoes, in spite of my best intentions to grow everything in the ground.
However, at least the bay tree now has space for its roots. And soon the lavender will be joining it.
Growing out of chaos 
Will you keep the bay pruned to a bush or will you let it become a tree?
To be honest, I haven’t decided. Probably keep it like a bush but then it depends how it grows.
Your bay tree looks pleased with the new home. My mother often cooked with bay leaf. The smell always reminds me of her.
I didn’t realise they had a smell but I can see why your mother often cooked with bay leaves. They are great!
thank you for sharing Helen lovely update have a blessed day
Same to you, Linda. I hope you won’t have any heavy downpours!
Lovely healthy looking bay leaf bush Helen, did you ever crush a leaf and smell it? Love the smell and love to cook with it, it is said to make food more easily digestible, not sure if this is true though 🙂 I had a bush in the garden but it grew very large indeed so had to cut it down, now there are still sprouts coming from it. It is great to use in food isn’t it.
Yes, I love it, too. Not tried crushing a leaf but might give it a go. Hope you’ve had a good day, Agnes.
My bay tree took years to get any height .. That was then 😃
And then it got big 😉
Keep it a bush….keep it a bush!!!!!!
We’ve just cut the top off the one we brought from Leeds…
a colleague, knowing I had plant knowledge, brought a bit to work…
he wanted to know what it was and whether, or not, it would survive being cut back…
when I told him it was a bay, he said….
“No, it can’t be…bay trees are small, this is thirty foot high and blocking light from my rooms.”
I suggested he cut it back at the end of the winter…
I recommended he left a stump the height he would like the “bush”…
you can’t kill laurels!!
They come again from hidden bud points under the bark… or from the roots!!
He asked what he could do with what he had left…
I said it is easily disposed of…
give everyone in the street a branch…
as well as your friends…
and any cooks that you know…
and then use the wood on your log burner!!
Don’t add any laurel cuttings to compost, they poison it!!
Thanks for the advice about laurels in the compost.