Bonsai is a journey... not the destination!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Winter is upon us

Well father winter's ugly head is just around the corner. I do not despise winter, au contraire I enjoy it as another season. The downfall of the onset of winter is that we must put our trees to bed and await for spring to once again enjoy our passion.


My deciduous trees and some conifers is non frost-proof pots are bedded in my cold frame. They do weel in here and have in the past. Come spring one must be vigilant of outside temperature and the height of the sun. To do otherwise results in the trees in the back being scorched.

This has happened in the past. Last year was a first where I caught them just as bud break and placed them in my greenhouse for protection. The greenhouse filters 65% of the sun on top of the harmful UV rays. The trees didn't seem to miss a beat, as a matter of fact I was a little worried with regards to acclimatising them for the outdoors. Likely my bench is semi shaded and the trees did well.


All my conifers, trees that are too large for the cold frame and trees under development are placed in the greenhouse. Last year the greenhouse was used as a partial storage area. With the addition of shelves this is no longer possible, besides a greenhouse is for plants/trees not lawn furniture, that is what sheds are for.


This new set up will make watering a breeze in comparison with last year.


The floor of the greenhouse, trees in development.


The back of the greenhouse. Yes there is a dead branch on the Mugo Pine. It was the result of the tree loosing an important root. There was nothing to do with this problematic root so it was removed. I fretted a greater loss of foliage than what is apparent. Hopefully the lost willbe limited to this only branch. A re-design is possible with only this lost, but more could indicate a design problem. I took a gamble, so far so good. I got my fingers crossed.

2 comments:

somegeek said...

Good looking greenhouse you have there. /envy

Rick Moquin said...

Thanks!

It was entirely built of left over lumber. The only thing I needed to buy was the sheathing :)