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Saturday was a great day. Hubby and I went out in the morning, great temperatures, light breeze and teamwork. Thats a recipe for a nice day. He mowed, I cleaned up and weeded. I took a couple of buckets of the weeds to the "dumping ditch". Its a low spot so anything organic that will decompose and help fill it in goes there. I had to weed carefully because there are baby trees growing amongst the weeds. Some of them are pretty and they will be great for pots and some people want them for Bonsai. All of the rains and the mole racing back and forth makes it easier to weed. Thats the only thing a mole is good for!! I got a sunburn on my back from leaning over and weeding, my shirt kept pulling up. That makes me think of those wooden cut outs I have seen in peoples yards, they look like a view from the back of a lady bent over. LOL At least I was sitting in a chair most of the time. Then we sat in the shade and enjoyed the breezed until I got too hungry to just sit there anymore.
All of the spaghetti squash and zucchini have been pulled out. We only got 3 zucchini and 4 spaghetti squash. Not very much for the amount of plants that we had. With all of the bug problems we had on those plants this year we have been doing some research to find solutions. There are a few things that we can try. The one that I think will help the most is to buy a beneficial insect pkg. It would have things like beneficial nematodes, preying mantis, lacewings and ladybugs. The nematodes will prey on insects that have a larvae stage in the soil. Some of the insects that we are having problems with do pupate in the soil, like the Squash vine borer. If we get a pkg. a little later in the summer and again in the spring I think it will bring the balance back to a better place.
The butternut squash is doing OK inspite of the onslaught of insects. The fruit we are getting isn't huge but they look good and the plants are still putting on more babies. Looking forward to making pies!
In one place that I took out squash I planted some melons. We should have long enough to get some before the fall. I also cleaned out one of the beds that can accomidate the climbers. I replanted some cucumbers with new seed. The last ones didn't do well at all. WE MUST HAVE CUCUMBERS! I also seeded some green onions where there used to be salad.
I spread out a bale of fresh straw under the pepper plants and in some of the aisles, in the areas where I had cleaned out all of the weeds. That should help to keep the roots cool in the coming heat waves. The chickens also got a good chunk of fresh have to scratch and in their nesting areas.
My next project for the garden is making some wooden frames that are about 12inches tall and maybe 3ft.x3ft. I am going to staple fabric row cover to them and seed some cool weather crops for this fall. Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts. Last year I had the cover over them in the hot summer. Part of it wasn't hooked down very well and kept blowing off of the sprouts. The ones that stayed covered grew much better. I took the covers off when the weather cooled down and they did well. We really like Brussels Sprouts and I think if I get more this year we can freeze some. I would like to have this done by the end of the week so everything is ready.
Oh, its raining again and the radar even shows us clear!!!
So it's the middle of another ice-cold winter in tiny little Canberra. After a failed attempt at stratifying seeds the artificial way (after months of sitting in the bottom of my fridge i managed to murder all the poor emerging seedlings in the scorching summer sun!) I'm trying again. This time, au naturale!
This year i layered a bonsai pot in the following way: good quality potting mix, seed raising mix, seeds and then a thin layer of vermiculite. The plan is that the vermiculite will stop the seeds from washing/blowing away but still allow them to get suitably cold to feel like sprouting come the warmer months of spring. The potting mix down below hopefully means that the freshly germinated plants can stay there a while until i get around to repotting them!
The seeds i'm trying this year are pencil pine, japanese elm, snake-skin maple, chinese pistachio, pink bloodwood, persimmon, alpine snow gum, chinese windmill palm, myrtle beech, norway maple, weeping white birch, japanese cedar, bald cypress, himalayan spruce, yulan magnolia and japanese pagoda tree. I'm hoping that after a few years each of these will make potentially very interesting bonsai. The only bonsai i have grown from seed so far are banksia serrata, a few eucalypts and a chinese maple so this is all very experimental.
I have no idea yet what my success rate will be but hope after a few months in the cold and then some time on a heat tray that at least some of them will emerge!
So, the Mrs. and I went to the local gardening haven today. We had a bit of extra money, so we each picked out something we wanted. She got some baby's breath, celosia, lantana, and sedum for a hanging basket she's been meaning to to redo.
I got a Bonsai "Serissa Kyoto" that I intend to bonsai. Here's the thing: I've not done this. I don't know what to do really. Any pointers for care and/or trimming would be appreciated.
Well, while my brethren beside me, Orange and Japanese Elm, have their own things going this weekend, I get to do something VERY exciting!!! I Get potted! I get to have my very own bonsai pot. I have waited over 3 years for this to happen and now I get to have it!! YAAAY! I have been very compliant and a happy grower this whole time thinking 'pick me! pick me!' and now is my time. For the last year I have felt like a bonsai, I have looked like a bonsai...down to making sure I have a nice, natural mossy ground cover, but there was the 'pot thing'. I will make sure they get pictures for I am very happy I get my pot!!! After I get potted I will be getting a trim, but not to downplay Japanese Elm, it is nothing like that...just a few clips here and there!
Hi, I am 'Japanese Elm'. I was once just a regular tree but someone looked at me and said, Bonsai... you must be. Here I am and enjoying the new 'digs'. I have gotten a little happy though and been getting a tad 'leggy' so I am scheduled for a haircut this weekend. I am looking forward to it as I have been feeling a bit 'full' lately! I understand there will be a photo journal of my cut :D
Hi, my name is 'Orange Tree'. That's my new pal, 'Clover' behind me. I know this is a good home when someone realizes the importance of clover! I have been promised a glorious future. As my new owner, RKayne has taken note...I am taking very quickly to my new home, I love it here in this new pot that is SO much bigger than the one I lived in for so long. I know I don't get this pot forever so I am taking advantage of it and growing very fast, she put me in this pot about a week ago and I already have new growth sprouting all over. The ploy worked and she took notice of my very fine efforts. Guess what? I get to start training to be a bonsai this weekend! I am so proud, wonder what my parents would think. Maybe the old grove owner will see my progress and let them know! RKayne told me she would take a photo journey of my progress so this weekend you get to see what becomes of me, I know this won't be easy but I am eager to join the ranks of some of the finest trees on this planet, Bonsai!
Have to get pics, have more on the way...My Mom got me tree's for my Birthday! So far, I have an Orange, Tangerine, Key Lime, and BONUS Lemon. I say BONUS because I unplug it last night to pot it, and go 'Hm, that's odd'...and get an *emergency* pot...it had a little one next to it. So I go to plant it again, after potting the little guy. Think...'Hm, that's odd'...and get ANOTHER emergency pot. I have 3 Lemon tree's! WOO HOO! These are all bound to be bonsai.
I will put up pics soon as I take them!
Thanks Mom!
So I put this together during a class I took about a month ago. It is doing really well on my windowsill. It needs a trim, but I am going to let it grow out for a bit because
a) I always feel guilty trimming off what it worked so hard to grow
b) not quite sure what I want to do with it
I recently launched my website to teach people more about bonsai and also sell bonsai supplies and prebonsai trees to help further spread the hobby. I really like bonsai gardening.
Does anyone have any good bonsai care articles I can reproduce on my site? I'd provide credit where credit is due.
You can message me to get the address.
So, tis the season for Bonsai to look great! Decided to have an update on how they are doing. 
Needs a trim, hehe...
One of the Wisterias...
One of my Favorite Japanese Maples (almost 4 yrs old)
Babies...and strawberries that are going in the ground tonight!
I got POTS I got pots, all so many empty pots....hehe...
so..what to do...PLANT STUFF! This weekend:
Basils, both Spicy Globe and Provencal (some to go to my PILE OF POTS benefactor, hehe)
Japanese Maples (have WAY too many, but now they can have their own homes as they have been living in big pots, one has like 25 in it...)
Mini Roses (we have two new ones, one for each of us Moms for Moms day, mine is pink, hers is red)
Daisy (of a variety I have no damn clue, but is sho is purty)
Now all I need is....MORE DIRT! WOOT!
Another good thing is I have several Bonsai that need to be repotted, so this will help with that as well.
OK, so I am not sure what flowering tree is what, as I have ID'd the east coast ones, they are not the same here! I have a couple nice trees in my yard, I think at least one is a cherry LOL and I have a lilac as well as a Pieris Japonica, Japanese Aucuba, and now a place for my Bonsai besides them being scrunched all on a patio. I like the tulips but must figure out what to put there that will be appreciated year round (and cheap...this IS a rental).
p>
So, this is what I am going to do during the course of the year, my BIG project for the year. I am going to take THIS rock :
And I am going to put one of these White Wisteria Bonsai on it:
I have two of them that are cascading over and don't know which one to do it to. What I need to do is take the one I want and put it in a DEEP pot for awhile, then take it OUT of the pot and put it on the rock where I want it (towards the bottom in a crevice) with a bit of peat in the crease of the rock and the roots all over the place, haha. Then I will bury the whole thing in course sand for about a year. Then it will be ready...not a slow project but I can already see it in my head and am thinking it could be less than a year as I decided to use wisteria. I have had this rock for almost 5 years now waiting for the right project, so I know it is frost proof.
I have a couple Japanese Maples set aside for MamabearBSA and Mainegal because they cost SO much away from here (Seattle area) that are 3 years old. They will be getting a couple baby maples as well, but I wanted to make sure they get to take something back with them that is established and there is nothing more beautiful than a Japanese Maple Bonsai! I will take pictures of them soon, as well and update...at the very least they will be able to see the tree's that are going home with them! I have some before and after pics so they get to see how drastic a cutting the tree's will take as I have been informed by them both that they are concerned about how tough they are. I will put it this way, they are 3 years old, and I am just NOW going to repot them! A bonsai, as average, will be repotted at least once a year, but Japanese Maples THRIVE on neglect! So, on that note, here are some of my Japanese Maples at three years old. I have before and after pictures with the winter growth and then their 'spring/summer coat' :D So now is where i get to tease Mamabear and Mainegal....as these are some of My personal babies, hehe...
Before :
After :
I recently had a large amount of baby maples 'follow me home' as I love to bonsai, this is fortunate :D I love to bonsai almost any tree but for the maples there is a plan. We have a NW GTG planned and they will have future homes when I take a bunch of them down for a 'training course', an VERY quick one, albeit, but they will be happy tree's! Maples will bonsai just as readily as any other tree and can be very beautiful in the process.
Everything
green and growing! I loves all kinds of plants, trees and flowers.
Right after the holidays I went and bought a whole bunch of exotic
seeds to start her own. I love to bonsai as well. So I got tickets to
the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
I had a really great time! I was there for most of Saturday, ooohing and aaahing over everything there. I bought two bonsai trees (one Japanese Elm and one cotoneaster ) and some lavender and lemon grass products (soap and body spray, yum!). I took a ton of pictures, here are a few of my favorites...
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