I’ve had a bay tree in a pot for forever – or a good decade anyway. The pot was small and the tree was small (I’m sure this is no coincidence). That little tree somehow survived neglect by me, total neglect by my tenants and, as I now realise, pretty much no soil.
Because of a sudden surfeit of pots (both Deb and Anne have given me numerous large pots) I’ve been looking at my plants with an eye to transplanting them. If it weren’t for this my little bay tree probably would have struggled on as it was for another decade. Instead, it has a new home in a beautiful terracotta pot with inches of soil to spread its roots into.
This pot just shouted Mediterranean to me. Where else should a Mediterranean tree grow but in a Mediterranean pot? Oh right, in the ground. For whatever reason I treat this tree more as a herb. Probably because of the way the leaves are used in cooking.
Yes, that’s a chicken sunbathing in the foreground. I just love it when they do that; they spread their wings, fluff their tail and nap in the sun. Rosie couldn’t have been cold when this picture was taken (it was 27 C) so I can only assume sunbathing’s part of their grooming ritual – does the sun kill mites?
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
I love their grooming ritual. The first time you see a chicken do this it does give a bit of a scare, doesn’t it.
It does. The first time I saw it I was sitting near them and Bronwyn came over and collapsed on my foot with her wing spread out. I thought she was injured so I watched her carefully and then the other 2 joined in. I decided there was no such thing as a group broken wing and so deduced it was part of their grooming ritual. Very odd looking.
Love that pot! I’ve been dying to grow a bay tree for a couple years, but I just can’t find the room for it. Sounds like they’re awfully hardy though!
This one certainly is hardy. But that could mean they are really difficult to grow in any other garden. I seem to have a knack growing things others can’t and I find it impossible to grow things others almost call weeds they grow so prolifically (I have never ever gotten dill to grow)!
I have trouble with dill in a pot…it stays very small because of it’s long taproot. Isn’t even worth growing in a pot. I’ve been pretty lucky with a few plants…I put my lemon tree in a pot that was way too big (we can barely move it) and I still haven’t purchased citrus fertilizer. I’ve done everything that I’ve read NOT to do, but it’s got two lemons and is covered in buds!
Mother Nature (and lemons) clearly loves you. I think all the advice in the world can’t beat a plant that just wants to live.
I have tried dill in the ground – that was worse. I have hoped (again and again) that I could get it started in a pot then plant it out – things begin with anticipation and sprouts, things end with wilting shoots and despair. I will stop trying once this current batch of seeds are all gone.
Hopefully success finds you before the batch is gone!
Thanks, that would be nice. I have a small pot with heaps of new shoots so this could be the one!
The only time I think I had dill shoots die is when they dried out or it got too hot in direct sunlight…have you tried moving them around or anything?
Oh, I’ve moved them in out and around the sun, water them well (without drowning), tried them in compost, in soil, EVERYTHING. They just hate me.
Maybe a different variety of dill? I’ve tried mammoth…I don’t know why I thought mammoth would grow in a pot well. Lol.
I have a couple bay trees in pots that I potted up from babies in the garden but they are not really growing well. I also gave similar to family members in the UK who planted in similar pots and who now have much healthier specimens. I think they prefer the rain and moist weather in the UK if they are forced to grow in pots.
I try to water mine pretty often but it’s hard in pots to keep the soil moist when the sun is blasting. You might be right, they like the Mediterranean climate in the ground but in pots they may need a bit of a softer environment.
It screams Mediterranean, all over the place! I love it though! I’ve never before seen a chicken sunbathing like that on its back. They usually run quite fast when I go anywhere near them.
-Samudaworth Tree Service
We’re lucky in that our chickens don’t run from us (unless we try to pick them up). I think they are vain creatures and like to watch us watching them preen and sunbake 🙂