Brand New YouTube Series Starts Today!!

Plant of the Week video- part 1

Well I've been uploading videos to YouTube, at the weekend, for the last 18 months now, and today is the day I launch a new midweek series called "Plant of the Week"

I'll be sharing facts about a different plant every week, some that I grow in my own garden, and some I will have to go searching for. There'll be ornamental plants, vegetables, fruit, fungi and trees too

So please join me, 7pm GMT today, and if you have any plants you'd like me to talk about in future videos, be sure to leave me a comment here, or on the Plant of the Week videos on YouTube 💜

Enjoy!
Love
Rebecca xx

Surprise Orchid Update 2019 - Nature's Gift vs Root Fungus

Root Fungus on Phalaenopsis Orchid

In this week's video we are asking one of life's biggest questions...well, maybe. Could Nature's Gift from E-Coco Products solve my root fungus problems. I don't know, but they've sent it to me to try, so I'm prepared to unpot this poor orchid all over again.

Come and see what's going on in the surprise update video.
Enjoy!
Love
Rebecca xx




**Disclaimer - this is not a Paid For promotion, or Sponsored post in any way, the product was sent to me to try, with no expectation that I would make content about it.**

My Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) collection 2019 update

My Orchids are looking beautiful - come and see

Hi everyone,
This week's video is an update of my lovely Phalaenopsis orchid collection. 9 out of 11 are flowering right now, but one of them is not doing so well, so I give it an emergency repotting after discovering mould on the root system!

Come and see how I get on,
Love
Rebecca xx

Bonsai - Let's begin with my trees - #1 Picea albies

"If you want to practice Bonsai, you need a lot of trees"

I can't remember which of my Bonsai guru's imparted that gem of knowledge, but it's certainly true. Once you've done a piece of work on a tree, you must let it recover, if you have only one tree, then that's a long wait until the next job can be done. You can't build skills and confidence like that.

In the few short months since I decided to reconnect with Bonsai I've amassed a small collection of trees and shrubs, spanning deciduous, evergreen, flowering, fruiting, hardy, tender, tropical. Hopefully that will give me a range of jobs I can do throughout the year. Here's what I have (so far!) ...

I had a Japanese Maple too...but I killed it #sadface

So you can see (maybe, if you zoom in!) that I have 18 trees right now, and knowing how 'invested' I get in hobbies, I expect that number to grow.

"You have to kill a lot of trees to make a few decent ones"

I can't remember who said this either, but I know I've killed quite a few trees in my time, mainly through a lack of learning during my teens.

Let me start to introduce you formally to my trees...

Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

I bought this for about £5.00 in early January, it was left over after Christmas.

A leftover Christmas Tree - Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

My first important job was to get this little tree out of it's bucket. It was planted straight in it, and there were no drainage holes. I was certain that the roots would be poorly formed, as a) the mass production of these trees means that time is money, and b) the non draining pot could have caused the roots to avoid filling any the sodden areas.

Left - Before root pruning      and Right - After!

I was right! The roots were a disaster. The tree had clearly been pushed down into the compost, causing the roots to be forced upwards, and to wrap around the neck of the trunk. Roots had then formed at the top of the trunk, immediately below the branches (left hand photo). 

I decided there were no kind ways of working on this root system, so clipped off the high up roots, all the upwards growing roots, the tightly wrapped ones and the overly thick ones (right hand photo). That operation also removed most of the fine roots too.

There were a large number of branches growing from the same points on the trunk, so I thinned them out, but left the remaining branches unpruned, so the tree had some foliage to aid recovery and healing.

Post-pruning and repotted.

Now this isn't a styling - this is damage limitation. Too many branches coming from one trunk location, moving resources to and from the foliage can cause the collars (where the branches meet the trunk) to swell together, and overly thicken the junction. When this area gets to the point where it is wider than the rest of the trunk (nb it can happen on branches too), it is referred to as inverse taper and becomes a fault that is hard/impossible to recover from.

After this initial work, I'll leave this tree well alone and see how it responds. You can see in the final photo (above), repotted it in approx. 75% Akadama (granular clay-like material used widely for bonsai), I've indicated a potential front for the tree (white pointy piece of plastic), and I've had to stabilise the tree with crocks on the soil surface, otherwise it was just falling over - not surprising really, now it has so few roots.

I've got the tree in an unheated greenhouse to protect it from cold, frost, snow and wind, and when I start to see signs of growth, I'll begin feeding this little Spruce with omakase japanese bonsai feed pellets.

Right! 1 down, 17 more trees to go!
See you soon
PB xx

My Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) collection.

New YouTube video

I've just uploaded a video all about my Moth orchid collection. Come along and see what I've got.

Love

PB x

Gardening Tools - Surprising Objects of Desire

Objects of Desire

When I was at Art College (centuries ago), I read a book entitled 'Objects of Desire - Design and Society since 1750' by Adrian Forty. I'd be lying if I said I remember it word for word, and could quote from it at the drop of a hat, but I do remember it changing how I felt about 'things'.

There is no getting away from the fact that as consumers we live in a 'throwaway society'. Businesses, economies, even world powers NEED us to consume, dispose and buy again. Stasis is no good, they need us to make them grow. Material and production costs are forced down as low as possible, advertisers tell us our lives will be revolutionised by this new 'thing', or we'll obsolete ourselves if we don't have it in our lives! As demand grows the end price drops, increasing demand again. Quality and longevity are expendable, and so we become surrounded by 'stuff'', consumables that we use briefly but can't bring ourselves to throw or give away, until our homes, minds, oceans and landfills reach a kind of critical mass, and something has to give!

Looking down on these landfill corpses are the design classics, the beautifully engineered pieces, built from exquisite quality materials, designed and manufactured to last, and give us as much joy from the day we first see them, to the day we die - because trust me, you're never going to throw these hardworking beauties away. Think of the Dualit toaster in all its chrome gorgeousness, heavy, solid, dependable. Built to make toast, and my goodness it does it well, with a reassuring tick, tick, tick as the knob rotates back to zero. Mine was a birthday present 20 years ago and it's as perfect as the day we got it., the chrome has aged a little, but that adds to it's looks and doesn't stop it working. Yes, it was a considered purchase in 1997, but spread over time it's cost less than 2p per day!

Now back to gardening...

Gardening Tools - Objects of Desire

I attended the Wealden Times Midwinter Fair in November 2016, held at the Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent (UK). My friend Alisa and I had been scouring the stalls for Christmas gifts for our loved ones. Shortly after lunch, Alisa began chatting to a stall holder, and my eyes wandered round the hoards of people and brightly coloured goods for sale...

Then my breath caught in my throat...

I began walking trance-like through the throng...

And before I knew it, I was touching the most beautiful hand trowel I'd ever seen...

The Mira Trowel from Modern Mint

The stall was Modern Mint, and this was the Mira Trowel at £33.00

Modern Mint

The company was started as a resource for gardeners who wanted to work with beautiful things, built to last, and that would really connect them with their gardens.

They have sourced tools made from bronze (copper alloyed with tin), which look far too precious to actually use, but the guy on the stall said they are tougher and sharper than most tools, and deserve to be used for the purpose which they were made. Just like the Dualit toaster, their full beauty can only be realised when you actually use them.

I explained that my sub-soil was a delightful mixture of clay, flint and chalk which has defeated hand tools and full size tools alike (I have four forks all with bent tines!), and that I would hate to ruin such a thing of beauty.

The guy said that was definitely challenging, but was confident that the worst thing that could happen would be a bit of patina on the bronze.

Who was I kidding, this gorgeous Object of Desire was going to be mine! Whip out the cash already!!

The photo shows the Mira trowel in mint condition (no pun intended). I've used it all year, from the lovely light soil of the square foot garden beds, to the evil 'concrete' soil in the woodland garden, and just as the man said, the only sign of use is a little surface patina, it's as straight and sharp as the day I bought it.

Do you have a favourite garden tool? Maybe it's one you felt an instant connection to, the way I did with the Mira, or one passed down to you from a family member. I'd love to hear your story.
Love
PB xx