Papercrete Bonsai Training Pots

I decided to try my hand at making some training pots for some of bonsai trees and recently heard of papercrete which is a mixture of cement and paper. The first mixture I made was not as successful as I would have liked because I did a mix of 60% paper, 20% cement and 20% sand.  The pot turned out a little crumbly so I decided to change the mix to 50% cement and 50% paper.

I got some newspapers and ripped them up and put them in a bowl with some hot water.  Left it to soak for 24 hours and then stirred and beat the mixture with a carving fork until it resembled pulp.

Paper mixed with water

I then took equal portions of the pulp and cement and beat this with the fork until it looked like this:-

Then I put it into this:-

Microwave bowl

I added a rectangular piece of styrofoam to the middle of the pot which enabled me to form the legs of the pot. I pressed the mix down into the corners and bottom of the pot first and then built up the sides.

After a couple of days it was ready to be turned out and left to dry.  I then sanded the edges smooth and sealed with concrete sealant and when that was dry painted it with a stone paint. This is the finished pot:-

I put a little fuchsia cutting in the pot basically just to see what it looks like.  It is a very cheap way of getting a bonsai shaped pot.

Pot No. 2

Another pot

We have had a week of beautiful weather with temperatures up to 29 degrees in September which is definitely unusual for the UK.  I have had a couple of weeks of pain with my back which has stopped me doing a lot.  I don't know where the summer has gone though.  Everyone is saying that it has gone so quickly and other than the last week's hot weather and a hot spell at the end of April we haven't had much barbeque weather at all.  So much to do in the garden at the moment cutting down and preparing the fuchsias for overwintering.  I have bubblewrapped my greenhouse and will be cleaning it down with Jeyes fluid.

This is my favourite fuchsia so far - New Millenium.  There is only one plant in this basket.

New Millenium basket

 

Peaches

I have had my peach tree about three years now - it cost £9.99 at Homebase and this year it produced about 30 peaches.  They were coming along nicely in this next picture which was taken around the 30th June:-

Still not ripe enough

We have been eating them for over a week now and the last of them I picked today - really ripe and ready to eat straightaway.

Scrummy!

 

 

Bonsai - first attempt to style a tree

I bought a little tree from the local supermarket and decided to try and style it.  This is my first styling and this is what I did.  Firstly, here is the tree:-

Chamaecypari pisifera

Apparently this variety isn't very good for bonsai but I didn't know that at the time but this is what I did with it.

This is what I have done so far.  I think some more needs to come off but will review it at a later date and just see how the tree grows for the time being.

Tree is potted up and this is how it looks now 5/2/12.

Tree in papercrete pot

Bonsai (collected, saplings etc)

Little Ash Sapling

One of the things I am going to try is bonsai this year.  I got interested a few years ago but I didn't carry on and one of the things I did was to put an Ash sapling into a pot.  It was growing in a friends garden and it is four years old now but I hadn't done anything with it until recently.   I went to a Bonsai display at a local village hall and it got my interest going again and then I found this lovely bonsai forum where you can get lots of help.  I love to garden but I guess I was just scared to touch this little sapling in case I killed it. Here it is:-

Little Ash untouched

After first cut

Coming along 2012

Little Lonicera

This small tree was collected when it's owner was putting up a fence and it got in the way. Lucky for me.......... this one is coming along nicely too. 

Lonicera

Kojo no mai (Japanese Cherry)

This is the winter image for this small tree.  Can't wait for the wonderful flowers again in the spring. ...... so so pretty.

Japanese cherry

Pyracantha

Not sure what I am doing yet with the small pyracantha but just enjoying the orange berries at the moment.

Pyracantha

Fuchsias

Miss California

The cuttings I took from the plants I bought at the garden centre at the beginning of the season are hopefully going to flower next month and some I have made into mini standards so I will post some pictures of these soon but in the meantime the main plants, which were under £2 a pot are now starting to flower in abundance and I have to admit that my favourite is Miss California now that it has just opened up followed closely by Bella Rosella and Dollar Princess (at the moment!)  That may change when some of the others open up!

Bella Rosella

Eva Boerg

Dollar Princess

Display

Frosted Flame

Happy Wedding Day

Madeline Sweeney

Torville and Dean

Southgate

Genii

 Genii was not one of the ones I bought at the beginning of the season but was purchased half dead from Homebase at 99p.  I nurtured it and it is doing well.

Shrimp Cocktail

Beef Tomatoes

I am pleased to say that the Marmande Beef tomatoes planted at the beginning of this blog are doing very well and this is them last week:-

Dahlias

I took some seeds from my red dahlias and planted them this year.
  Here is the original red dahlia:-

















And here are a few of the colours I got from these seeds:-

They are so pretty.  Gonna save some more seed this year from these ones to see what I get!.......


 Tom,
My dahlia tubers were given to me by my daughter as a mother's day present and were supposed to be white but they turned out the deep red colour.  We have a good draining soil here in the south and the tubers have remained in the ground and come up every year but I have to remember to put down slug protection because they love to eat the new shoots, so do this as soon as the new shoots appear. Elsewhere in colder regions they would have to be taken up each year.

I have lifted all the other tubers though from the seeds I put in this year.  I was quite surprised how big the tubers were and very healthy looking.I gently removed as much soil as possible and put them in a cardboard box on newspaper and placed them in a frost free shed.  Oh and the stems were cut to 6 inches.  I loved the fuchsia pink dahlia and will experiment with more seeds to see what other colours I can get.  Some people split them now but my other half's Dad who absolutely adored dahlias and had a brilliant show each year did his in the spring.

I too love this shape!

Other flowers and plants out now in my garden

Polish Spirit.
This is my favourite clematis in my garden.

Lupins doing very well and Delphinums also.

Clematis

White Peony

Duchess of Edinburgh clematis

Rhapsody in Blue Rose

Pacific Blue Delphinium

Very pretty Petunia in my hanging basket.  I ordered plug
plants for the very first time this year from Gardening Direct and
was very pleased with them.  They were expertly packed and
arrived in a very healthy condition and they too are doing well.

Clematis

Petunia in ornamental shoe.  Couldn't resist this when I went
to Squires cos I loved the Robins.  Petunia courtesy of Gardening
Direct. 

Lilies looking very healthy in my pond.

Winter pansies still flowering.

My garden was a wilderness when I moved here four years ago and I am very pleased how it is coming along.