Autumn is soon upon us: Here is what we are doing this month at bonsaibai
September 2024
There are several things to do around the nursery this month. We have started on some of them and have been waiting for the weather to turn for others. This newsletter’s intention is to provide the complete picture behind the scenes, including all the warts and successes, whatever they are.
A quick message
Bonsaibai is a new prebonsai nursery I am building in Wiltshire.
All bonsai club members around the country will receive discounts on all our stock. We open in 2025, and it will evolve into what we hope will be a great field-grown resource.
We are recording podcasts with Harry Harrington, Peter Warren, Tony Tickle, and others for our first podcast series, dedicated to UK bonsai.
We are starting an online UK bonsai community to attract those who may not be interested in the physical club experience. We hope it will be the next best thing over time.
We would be honoured if you accepted our new prebonsai nursery into your fold.
https://www.bonsaibai.co.uk
All for love of bonsai. Now back to the post.
Jonathan
Planting Bald Cypress
We have around 80 bald cypress saplings that must go in the ground. I have had them in water throughout late Spring when they arrived and Summer, and now in Autumn, they will be planted without disturbing them.
I have made a spot where they will go. Videos and a post once they are in will follow.
This side of the field is very wet and hard clay. The trees will get some additives to the holes they go in. The first batch I planted in Spring, visible to the right of the black area, is doing well. Since it is such a wet area, this brings us to the next job.
The natural Pond
I have dug a trench running along the raised bed tree-line you see in the image above and it leads to the end of the field, near the natural river. The intention is to allow overflow to the river, when required, but trap as much of it as we can to form a pond.
You may not see it well, but in this overgrown (I like it) natural mix of weeds, grasses, and so on is a deepish hole I dug out with the neighbour's digger.
Here is a zoom-out image of the area. Behind it lies the fence, a dirt road and the river, albeit probably merely a stream. I want a bit of diversity in creatures and plants and will gently guide them towards attractive flowers to bring in good insects, bees, etc. If you have any suggestions for native Wiltshire plants that I could bring to this area, let me know.
We are building this because of the water that sits on the clay. Beneath that grass is hard clay, and water pools. This is good for the bald cypress, but not so good for larch and other species. But of course, I still need good water.
Water tanks
Another job is to connect this drain from the barn to the IBC tank.
I have three here so far, with one raised. The other side will connect to the other side of the barn gutter. With a pump, I can get this water out when needed, and I will be pleased to give my trees rainwater then from the tap. My water is not bad, but it could be better.
Borders and help with maintenance
One thing that lots of rain brings is good, healthy grass and weeds. It grows magnificently, and if it were what I was harvesting, it would make sense, but it is a real maintenance nightmare.
Despite fabric on the ground and stones, the grass has made it up and through. A lot of this is really tough to pull out. Feeders come from the other side of the boundary and it catches hold very quickly. I would have to spend a couple of hours every day sorting this out to stay on top of it, and I still would not be taking weeds and grass out of the pots.
So I have purchased more boards and intend to put up a barrier along the base of the saibai area.
These boards should help, so I don’t cut into the delicate fence cloth. This is why I have had all the issues. The strimmer is not good here and its been manual cutters.
This shows the 60ft of the backside of the saibai, which needs attention.
I plan on running the boards all along the base so I can get into it more easily with the strimmer and without risk to the fabric.
Felling the dead tree
Lastly, if time permits, I need to remove this dead crab-apple tree. It was majestic, but it's gone now and becoming a risky walk around the field because of its dead branches falling.
I have been cutting off some of the branches in preparation, and using it as cover for my raised bed.
In a nutshell, that is some of the major activities here at bonsaibai. Stay connected, stay subscribed for more. I won’t flood your inbox. If you want to comment and be part of the journey, visit our website, and here on substack, where comments are always welcome.
Until Next Time,
