When I lived in Louisiana in the early 90’s, I had a bay leaf tree someone had given me. I kept it in a pot and it had gotten really big. We rarely had temps cold enough that I needed to bring it in so it was growing like crazy in the almost tropical weather. When Vince and I got married, I said “I’m bringing my bay leaf tree!” Newlyweds . . he agreed to most anything.
In Kentucky, for about 5 years, I brought it in when it was cold. I had a big window and tile floor in the bathroom so it was pretty happy in there . . til one early spring day I had it out getting some sunshine, forgot about it and we had a really hard freeze and it died.
That was probably in about 2002 and I have looked for a bay leaf tree ever since then. I think it was year before last, I found some at a nursery in Abilene and bought two of them. They have grown and grown. One is taller than I am now.
The other day we were talking about getting the propane tanks filled and . .
Vince: I don’t think we’re going to run the heat in the greenhouse this year.
Me: What?
Vince: We’re going to be gone at least twice during the winter and with no one here to turn the heat on and off, there’s no way it’s going to work.
Me: Maybe we can hook something up to wifi to turn it on when it needs to be turned on.
Vince: What do you have that you really want to keep alive?
Me: Duh! Two bay leaf trees.
Vince: $300 for propane for two bay leaf trees? No!
He’s right. Without a garden, I won’t be starting seeds and plants in the greenhouse. There are other plants but most of them are not worth the cost of running the heat in there. I can bring the two bay leaf trees in the house, and when we’re home, we can put them out on warm days (most days), but it makes me kinda sad not to have the greenhouse full of plants and to be able to go out there on chilly days and enjoy the smell of the warm, humid greenhouse.
Carolyn Sullivan says
Yes that would be sad. not to have them for a garden. Didn’t plant a garden here this spring, too wet and then lots of hand problems resulting in 2 surgery dates, and 5 things repaired. Thinking about a fall garden…. what should I plant????
Judy Laquidara says
If I were planting a fall garden, I would plant radishes (they produce quickly and you should get a harvest before a hard freeze), kale, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, carrots, beets. It all depends on what you like and when you want to plant. At Garden.com, you should be able to put in your zip code and get a chart of which seeds/seedlings to plant when.
Nelle Coursey says
That is kind of like losing a good friend! I know that sounds crazy but I have plants I love and if one dies on it’s on, so be it. But if I do something to kill it, it hurts me! Like I have killed a person or something! Weird me!!
dezertsuz says
Life is change, right? If you aren’t there to monitor things, it won’t work, and you don’t want to give up being in Nevada! =) You can have a greenhouse again sometime, if you still want one when life settles down again.