My Fisrt Trees

Before I start, a WARNING!!! To you that are more experienced, I know as you read this you will be shouting at your computers, and for the beginners out there please learn from my mistake.

Now on to my first trees. It was over Christmas 2014 that I decided that I had had enough of reading and it was time to just jump in. So, I started to look around. I found that Herons Bonsai sold a set of 5 conifers starter trees. I thought this would be a good way to start so I ordered them.

My 5 starter trees

They arrived at the beginning of February 2015. The five trees that they sent me where:


Dawn Redwood
Japanese Larch
Mugo Pine
Alberta Spruce
Ginkgo

 

Around the same time, I ordered a set of 5 plastic Bonsai pots
(rectangle 15 x 10.5 x 6 cm). The plan was to re pot these trees in to the training pots. In the end, I only potted 3 of them in to these pots, the Spruce I potted in to standard flower pot (I forget the size), and the Mugo didn't get re potted.

 

Ginkgo after
re potting Feb 2015

Dawn Redwood after
re potting Feb 2015

I know, I know, the more experienced of you will be saying “well now you have 5 twigs in a pot!!!” I will get to that in a moment. First I just want to touch on what I used for soil. I know that this is a highly-debated subject, you could ask 50 different people you will get 50 different answers. For me its cat litter (moler clay). I’m not going to go in to why I use cat litter, there is a very good article here you can read.



Japanese Larch after
re potting Feb 2015

 

Alberta Spruce after

re potting Feb 2015

So back to my twigs in pots!!! At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing and it wasn’t till mid-way through the year it clicked “If you want thinker trucks you need to let them grow unhindered”.

So, with that in mind I hatched a plan. In Apr 2016 I cleared out a bed in the garden and planted then all but one in the ground. I planted them all on a paving slab. The idea behind the slab is that it forces the rotes  to grow out. We want the roots to grow out like this to help us develop a good NEBARI (Here is an index for Bonsai words if you need it).

The Spruce didn’t go in to the ground but was planted in a much bigger pot.

A year on they are all still there, and there they will stay until I decide/work out what to do with them.


So that is the story of my first trees.


Until next time,
Razor

Hello

Hi, and welcome to my blog.

I thought I would start by giving you the story of how I got in to the amazing art of Bonsai

 

It all started for me in my teens. I already enjoyed being in the garden, I even enjoyed mowing the grass!!! But my first encounter with bonsai was when I watch The Karate Kid for the first time. What can I say, I was fascinated by the mini trees that Mr Miyagi was working on in his office. 

 

My next encounter wasn’t till I was in my early twenties when my Nan passed. I have some very fond memories of my Nan, one was her love of her garden and I remember spending hours in her garden just admiring it. After she passed we had the job off emptying her house. In the process, we divided up some of her belongings and it was decided that I would have all her gardening books. Within this pile of books there was a book, "Bonsai, the art of growing and keeping miniature trees" by Peter Chan, this sparked my fascination again. I started to read and do some research, trying to get as much info as I could, before starting on my bonsai journey. I would love to say to you now that I have been practicing the art ever since but it wasn't for another 10-13 years until I finally got my first trees in 2015.

 

Well there it is, how I became fascinated with bonsai. I will talk about how I actually started in my next post.

 

But before I start talking about my trees I just wanted to talk about what I want for this blog. I want it to be a learning tool for me and others (Please learn from my mistakes!!!). I will be posting pics of my trees and talking about what I have done and what I plan to do. Please feel free to ask any questions, and for you more experience readers I would like to encourage you to comment with your advice and tips that you have.

 

Finally, just a quick word to say that I live in the UK and you will need to keep this in mind as your clement and timings may be different than mine.

 

Hope you enjoy my future posts.

 

Razor