Getting my Lockdown fix

[colley614]

Hello everyone,

This time last year I was a total noob who had just bought my first malsai. Now the bug has bit me hard. I've been growing seeds ordering bare roots online, raiding nurseries looking for stock.

With the lockdown I find I'm really frustrated, with my local club shut I've watched hundreds of people pruning trees on YouTube. I'm wondering if there's any way of getting my fix?

 

[just.wing.it]

This is it bud, right here.....how's it feel?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Have you heard about the following subjects?
- Wooden grow boxes
- Benches and displays
- Pottery
- Carving and carving tools
- Indoor growing
- Monkey poles
- Watering systems
- Shohin displays
- Rock appreciation (both music and the instrument/tool/art/mountain/river/creek/arrowhead/spearhead kind of rock)
- Weeding the yard
- Aesthetic garden design
- Wall paper, wall displays

There's more to it than I can name here. But the more trees you get, the more you start to think of winters as a break from watering. Give it a few years ;-)

 

[colley614]

This is it bud, right here.....how's it feel?

I'm finding it really frustrating that I have so much free time and can't do anything in relation to Bonsai with it.

 

[colley614]

Have you heard about the following subjects?
- Wooden grow boxes
- Benches and displays
- Pottery
- Carving and carving tools
- Indoor growing
- Monkey poles
- Watering systems
- Shohin displays
- Rock appreciation (both music and the instrument/tool/art/mountain/river/creek/arrowhead/spearhead kind of rock)
- Weeding the yard
- Aesthetic garden design
- Wall paper, wall displays

There's more to it than I can name here. But the more trees you get, the more you start to think of winters as a break from watering. Give it a few years ;-)

I might buy a couple of books that discus techniques.

Funny you mention the winter as a break. I noticed I was getting really jaded towards the end of the season. I was glad to not have to be out constantly watering them. Now I'm itching to start again.

 

[Wulfskaar]

I'm finding it really frustrating that I have so much free time and can't do anything in relation to Bonsai with it.

Nigel Saunders said it's hard to call bonsai a hobby if you only have a couple trees. There's just too much down time. This is my problem too, but I've been keeping myself occupied by growing lots of trees from seeds. In a few years, I'll be rolling deep.

 

[colley614]

Nigel Saunders said it's hard to call bonsai a hobby if you only have a couple trees. There's just too much down time. This is my problem too, but I've been keeping myself occupied by growing lots of trees from seeds. In a few years, I'll be rolling deep.

Totally agree, I just planted up a big batch of field maple seeds to go with my Japanese maple seeds. I've ordered myself an English oak to plant up.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I might buy a couple of books that discus techniques.

Funny you mention the winter as a break. I noticed I was getting really jaded towards the end of the season. I was glad to not have to be out constantly watering them. Now I'm itching to start again.

Make a wishlist for trees! I have multiple.

Books on techniques are fun, but internet on techniques is way more fun. There are hundreds of people with different opinions and techniques that work for them.
Not all of those techniques work for me though. That's the fun part. I'm trying most of them and they fail half of the times.
People advocate summer repots for mugo pines for instance, those always died in my hands. I do spring repots with a 100% survival rate.
Are they wrong and am I right? Yes, but the opposite is also true. If I'd live in their climate, summer repots might work for me.

 

[BrianBay9]

With mild winters I spend my time collecting, or scouting for collected trees. Nobody around. Outside activity. Even if collecting with a friend or two it's easy to keep one's distance.

 

[JudyB]

I might buy a couple of books that discus techniques.

Funny you mention the winter as a break. I noticed I was getting really jaded towards the end of the season. I was glad to not have to be out constantly watering them. Now I'm itching to start again.

Books can be a good thing to have in the downtime, it can inspire whole new directions.

 

[Carol 83]

Now I'm itching to start again.

Maybe get a tropical or two.

 

[colley614]

With mild winters I spend my time collecting, or scouting for collected trees. Nobody around. Outside activity. Even if collecting with a friend or two it's easy to keep one's distance.

Within a ten minute walk from my house I have a place where there are loads of hawthorn, field maple and oak saplings. A 10 minute drive from my house has an area with loads of scots pine saplings. Unfortunately, we can't remove trees without the landowners permission and I can't see either places giving me permission.