Thinning Out a Potential Clump

July 1, 2017June 30, 2017 / Bonsai Scratcher / 1 Comment

Lifted this azalea from the ground a few years ago and it was root pruned and potted into this seed tray two years ago. An overdue thinning was necessary:

The potential front with majority of trunks leaning to the viewer.

Getting there. One or two crossing trunks removed.

A drastic thinning.

A lot of leggy branching/trunks so I’m hoping for more backbudding and a reduction in height further still at some point but I’ll keep it tidy from now and change the soil next year.

Swelling Buds

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 / Bonsai Scratcher / 1 Comment

Signs of life around the garden the other morning. I’ve started to walk round and inspect things a bit more often, expecting to see buds starting to swell on some plant/tree species. I’m looking forward to some flowers within the next few weeks:

European Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus)

Flowering Peach (Prunus Persica)

Japanese Apricot (Prunus Mume)

Damson Tree (Prunus Insititia)

Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum)

Full steam ahead…

July 9, 2015 / Bonsai Scratcher / 1 Comment

All this warmth and rain means that my bonsai material in the growing beds are running a bit rampant which is great. Except that the weeds are getting out of hand too. I’m thinking this is also because of the chicken manure I’ve been spreading. I may change to a foliar feed instead and that’ll hopefully mean less work weeding.

Pyracanthra, Sorbus, Blaaws Juniper, Silver Birch, Japanese Maple

European Hornbeam

English yew, Japanese Cedar, raised Beds with trees rootpruned earlier this year. Still a lot of low level weeds were unremoved as I didn’t want to damage the recovering rootballs of trees in the shallow soil. Think I’ll fill up the bed a bit more with another layer of soil.

A toddler sized bathing pool filled from just one raised bed of weeds.

I’ll try and keep on top of weeding a bit more now that I’m off work for a while.

Snow Garden

January 29, 2015 / Bonsai Scratcher / 2 Comments

Our second dose of snowfall this winter and my second day off work due to the disruption it causes. Being a teacher in a rural school has its perks at times 😉 The most pressing task for the day was to build Olaf the snowman with my three and two year old and once that was done I managed to take some pictures around the garden. Its surprising how much more attractive a layer of snow makes everything seem. I hope to get out later for a walk with the camera as well.

This first slideshow if of pictures from last night because I didn’t think the snow would lie.

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Turns out it did lie, about 10cm. Pictures taken this morning:

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In the Bleak Mid Winter…

December 29, 2014December 27, 2014 / Bonsai Scratcher / 1 Comment

The garden is looking pretty bleak at the moment as you’d expect. It was pleasant this morning, however, to get out with the camera while the sun was shining and record some winter images. I’ll probably post updates regarding individual trees as and when I work on them during the winter or into spring as I think about root pruning.