Project Wednesday ~Bonsai

This is one I don't talk about too often yet I actually have quite a collection of!
A few years ago I really got into the idea of bonsai and started reading up about them a lot. I bought my first little bonsai, a 'Carmona', or Fukien Tea from Dobbies. It was adorable and lasted about 3 years before sadly it died of a disease. I don't know what brought it on. My only issue with it was that it had obviously been a lot taller at some point and it's top had been snipped off to make it bush out into a bonsai.

So, from there I decided to stop buying bonsai and instead attempt to grow my own! I have had varying luck with this method as well though. I tried oaks a few times as we have a large oak tree behind our house and although I kept them going for a couple of years, for some reason I couldn't get them past that. It's a shame as I really liked this one with a large twist in one of it's branches. I found it this way out the back of the house around 2008, it wasn't engineered by me!

Basically my ideas for what species to grow as a bonsai now is 'any small tree I find growing in the garden'. I have 5 going at the moment, and not to jinx myself but other than one, they have all been going for at least 4 years now! This one is the exception, it's a yew I bought on sale in Tesco for a quid as when I saw it I straight away thought of bonsai. It's the first tree I've bought since the fukien tea, and this one isn't even a bonsai already XD I read that they should go in the ground ideally for a couple of years virtually unchecked so as to really put on some chunky trunk size, so as I thought I may be moving from home soon I put it in a large pot instead. I'm still considering whether it will actually go in the ground when I move out.

This is one of my oldest ones at about 4 years old, a maple tree I picked from the garden. I put it in the old bonsai pot and that's where it's been since. I have tilted it purposely, but in the last couple of years I've not really been sure of the shape I've been aiming for from it, so at the moment it's in some kind of perpetual fall.

This is my biggest bonsai, and the only one I've grown from seed myself. It's a canadian horse chestnut, so if it ever fruits it's conker shells will be smooth instead of spikey :] I got its conker from a tree in Bridgenorth, the only canadian chestnut I know of. I think at the moment it's about 4 years old, and I'm hoping to keep it this size. I'm hoping in the future it'll get a few more branches too :x

These pair are my two cherry trees. These things pop up in the garden all the time, and so one year I decided to bonsai one. I'd been reading a lot about tiny bonsai, only 5cm tall, so I decided that that's where I would go with it! It was a tiny twig for the first year, so the next year I added a friend, another find from the garden XD Group growings are also a thing with bonsai, although I'm not fully decided if that's what I'm going to end up doing. They hate being this size though, every year putting more effort into growing random branches far beyond the shape I'm trying to maintain. Sometimes I catch them in time to shape them to grow where I want with wire, as you may be able to see here.


You can see how much I've stunted the bonsai cherries when you consider that the oldest of the pair is about 5 years old, the same age as the cherry tree that Dad planted in our front garden a few years ago! I'm not sure cherry was the right choice to try and go this small with as they are fast growers with big leaves, but i am learning more and hopefully next year I hope to have smaller leaves too x3
That's half the fun of growing bonsai, although it's a slow hobby, seeing them develop and shaping them into what they are is a lot of fun!
Do you like bonsai or just think they should be left to grow as they please?



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Project Wednesday ~Garden Progress

I haven't said much about the garden recently and I guess cause at this time of year it really only comes to watering and feeding, which Dad does as I'm at work most evenings when the plants are okay to be watered (or asleep in the mornings :x). The weather has been getting warmer these last few days which has been lovely, even though I haven't had much time to enjoy it. When I did though, I sat in the garden doodling while just taking in my surroundings.

The front garden at the moment has this beautiful big lily, a different kind to the orange ones which didn't get hit by the horrible lily bug. Just look at the size of them, I really need to keep in mind to get more of this kind for next year...

Out the back there has been a lot of progress in some areas too. Remember the other day I said we were roasting tomatoes over the brazier? Well those were the first very early ones, and we're about to come into a glut of tomatoes XD The plants are going mental, even growing out the greenhouse though a crack in the roof! I like tomatoes, but i'm not sure I like them enough to be eating them constantly for the next month..!

Talking of over-productivity, the peas have given us a bumper crop this year too and I certainly don't think these is such a thing as too many peas! Although a little annoying to shell, it's actually all part of the fun and it's a challenge when shelling with someone else to see who can get the pod with the most peas in it. My record so far is 12 ;p

I have been getting mixed results with onions however. As you can see these guys are becoming beauties, possibly the best onions Dad's ever grown and definitely the best I've done! I think it's either down to the type or location though as I'm certainly not doing so well with the white onions planted only a couple of weeks after these and tended as well. Luckily I've still got the packet for these ones to look out for the same kind again next year.

So as all these plants are coming to crop and plants like the peas are quickly looking the worse for wear, it's not all lost as we've still got plenty to look forward to, such as squash, potatoes and beetroot. Oh, and these apples! Our tree is just a twig really but it always put a lot of effort into making really tasty apples!

And this is hopefully coming in the future too...baby corn! Can you believe how big it's got? It not has the pollen/flowerhead on the top and the fluffy red bits that will become corn. I've never grown corn before as I'm sure I've said many times, but I just don't know what to expect from these! I had no idea they even grew a wheat-like flowerhead XD I've been shaking them over the red fluff in hopes of getting good looking baby corn in return, of course I'll let you know how that turns out!
Have you, like me, already got a few plans for next year? I'd love to hear them x3



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Project Wednesday ~Dossing in the Garden

Well, usually my projects are little more paper based than this weeks, but it's nice to have a change, right?
I had a long weekend this week thanks to my bosses rotaing so I took full advantage to spend most of it in the garden! The weather was supposed to be terrible but it actually turned out pretty good, I even got to see the sun a fair bit! I admit it's getting chillier, but it's not enough to stop me at the moment (if it gets much colder it will though, I'm terrible for avoiding the outdoors!).

I was given some tiny little seed pots that were going to be thrown away so I dived straight in with filling them with compost and now they all have peas or beans in them XD Some other peas that I started off about 3 weeks ago were starting to outgrow their seed tray and although I'd planned for them to be planted out by Dad they were just getting too root-y so they got planted outside, and the seed tray is already being used for broad beans! I still have two more sets of peas to germinate so I'm sure Dad will still have something to do :]

It's not all been legumes though and I've also been paying some attention to the front garden where I hope to plant some flowers for colour. I don't trust vegetables to stay out the front, although the general consensus of the neighbours appears to be that if it comes from the ground its poisonous! Later on in the year I'll probably end up putting some peas out along the fence line though as they've done pretty well there for the last couple of years. (I think people think they are boring sweet peas xp) I'm trying to make a bit of a feature in the front garden with some plant pots as the middle piece is getting so boring to me! The cherry tree is offset from the middle and not big enough yet to draw much attention, so I'm hoping to get this pot set to have lots of nice blooms and some trailing plants down the side. I've never attempted anything like this before so fingers crossed!

Out the back garden I've got two lots of onions in, they like the sunshine so I've tried to get them in prominent spots, and because I don't usually have a lot of luck with getting them to grow as big as I'd like I've done a little research this year and put a whole bunch of compost and slow release plant food in before planting them :] I'm hoping that'll give them a head start while I concentrate on watering to try and get them chunky XD

And of course with all this I feel the need to bring a little paper organisation in somewhere so I created this chart to keep track of everything as it's planted and grows. I'm really looking forward to filling it in, but I feel theres more I could do with a more garden-focussed journal, but I'm not really sure where to start, or how to go about it. Even Pinterest isn't bringing much up for me!
Do you have any ideas, or have you done any garden themed journals or crafts before? I'd love to hear about them!
Catch you soon,

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