fredtruck
Omono
My garage is only incidentally where I winter my bonsai, but it is the perfect environment for them. My father-in-law built the garage to keep his antique car collection in. The building is 1000 square feet in size. It is birmed in on 3 sides; that is, on the north, east and south sides of the building, 3 feet of earth are piled against it. The garage is not heated, except for a very small room where the door is. The rest is passively solar heated by large windows on the south side of the structure. Our winters in the midwest can be very cold. I remember one day when it was -26 below zero. The garage usually stays right around 40 degrees F. During extended sub-zero weather, it will get down to freezing. For that reason, I have a small industrial ceramic heater that will move the temperature up to about 38 degrees.
But worse than the cold is the wind. The winds in West Des Moines are continuous, and they come from every direction. The drying effect is total. The moisture from the trees and the indoor irrigation system I use is enough, usually, to keep tolerable humidity in the building.
What this means for my trees is no matter what it is like outside, they have relatively stable temperatures, low light, and usually, they get an early start on spring, at least for this area. There is also a fan that provides moving air all the time, but nothing like the blasts outside.
When my in-laws decided to move to a retirement situation, we bought the house from them, and the garage came with it.
As you can see, there is a lot of chaos in my space. I'm an artist, and when I build stuff, or store my art, this is where I do it. I also do my bonsai photography here.
I think the thing that really separates my garage from other bonsai artists' work spaces is the amount of chaos I tolerate. I am not silly enough to tell you I know exactly where everything is. I don't. But I do like the ideas I get from searching for one thing and finding something else. There is a happy randomness to my space.
I also inherited a ton of antique tools from my father-in-law, some of which go back to the late 19th century when his father, a contractor, was building skyscrapers in NYC. For me, the pride of these tools is a collection of handsaws. I have 9 of them, and everyone of them has a different teething pattern. I have a ripsaw handsaw that just chews up oak. And yes, I used these tools to build the benches you see.
Not pictured is the 10 foot garage door, which is very handy for taking bonsai in and out of.
I'd like to see other people's workspaces, so feel free to add them to this thread.
But worse than the cold is the wind. The winds in West Des Moines are continuous, and they come from every direction. The drying effect is total. The moisture from the trees and the indoor irrigation system I use is enough, usually, to keep tolerable humidity in the building.
What this means for my trees is no matter what it is like outside, they have relatively stable temperatures, low light, and usually, they get an early start on spring, at least for this area. There is also a fan that provides moving air all the time, but nothing like the blasts outside.
When my in-laws decided to move to a retirement situation, we bought the house from them, and the garage came with it.
As you can see, there is a lot of chaos in my space. I'm an artist, and when I build stuff, or store my art, this is where I do it. I also do my bonsai photography here.
I think the thing that really separates my garage from other bonsai artists' work spaces is the amount of chaos I tolerate. I am not silly enough to tell you I know exactly where everything is. I don't. But I do like the ideas I get from searching for one thing and finding something else. There is a happy randomness to my space.
I also inherited a ton of antique tools from my father-in-law, some of which go back to the late 19th century when his father, a contractor, was building skyscrapers in NYC. For me, the pride of these tools is a collection of handsaws. I have 9 of them, and everyone of them has a different teething pattern. I have a ripsaw handsaw that just chews up oak. And yes, I used these tools to build the benches you see.
Not pictured is the 10 foot garage door, which is very handy for taking bonsai in and out of.
I'd like to see other people's workspaces, so feel free to add them to this thread.
