Shady's Latest Dumbassary

[ShadyStump]

I did not get to the shed today.

The adventures brought on by middle-aged knees, and tenderfoot dogs.

I said, "no more trees this year, at least until I can trust you to not eat them." So it was supposed to be a casual walk through the woods with my new dog before cleaning my shed this afternoon. "Ok," I'd conceded to him as we drove in my minivan out to a not-too-far-off mesa. "Maybe if we find...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[ShadyStump]

 

[ShadyStump]

New bench.

Just a pallet with legs; almost as crappy as my reused fence bench, but flatter on top.

And we got started on planting the vegetable garden today.
Still have to call my oldest daughters' principal. Who the makes the kids getting bullied stay inside for lunch?!

 

[ShadyStump]

And, no, I haven't gotten to the shed yet.

 

[ShadyStump]

My oldest's latest project.
We'll see how far the word has spread in one week.

 

[ShadyStump]

View attachment 486546
My oldest's latest project.
We'll see how far the word has spread in one week.

Massive dud, BTW.
We'll try again next year.

 

[ShadyStump]

Anywho, the shed.

Got half of it done.

But the other half


Oh, well, that wasn't quite as bad as I was afraid of.

But where to put this?

Whatever, I've been having to Jacky Chan over it all for 6 months. Anything's an improvement.

Some sorting and organizing to do, but otherwise all done.

Now I can start on my laundry room.

 

[ShadyStump]

String cheese and apples for breakfast with my 4 year old son, and he wanted to plant the seeds.

He even picked the pot himself.
We'll see what happens. I have a little lemon tree from a seed I planted a couple years ago, so I'm betting on something fun happening.

 

[ShadyStump]

Forgot to update the seeds I've been stratifying.
Got the big tooth maples planted in a flat a week ago, but only the 14 best looking out of the ones I had. Many of them had started molding in the fridge. Last night saw a couple had popped.

Not too excited because there were two seeds that had roots extending from the stratification time. I'm hoping to see more, but the condition of many of the seeds has tempered my expectations significantly.

 

[ShadyStump]

3 Rocky Mountain junipers that planted themselves last year, and made it through winter. They've gotten a bit of tree and shrub feet in spring, and watered, and that's it.

Only one has really grown at all, so the others will likely be culled if nature doesn't do it for me.
Hoping for some nice thick foliage, but really won't know for a couple more years.

 

[ShadyStump]

Sure glad I built that other bench because I woke up to this this morning.

The whole bench folded right over in the rainstorm last night. One of the wires that held it stable broke the other day, and I hadn't gotten to fixing it yet.

A few trees dumped from their pots, but otherwise not bad. Some character added, but no major style choices made from me.
My yamadori mame collected this spring was MIA for a little while, but I finally found it another tree.
Anyways, yeah, new benches on the list.

 

[ShadyStump]

Seed updates.

The two big tooth maples ran out of room in their covered container, so I took the lid off.

They do not have big teeth, nor do they look like maples. I'm sure they'll grow up just fine, though.
Will get their first fertilizer dose soon I think.

Planted my curl leaf mountain mahogany seeds today.
I'm going to use some for the ROR contest, so I've been documenting over there. Here's the link to the latest post.

Shady's '23 ROR Contest Thread

I ordered some curly leaf mountain mahogany (cercocarpus ledifolius, family rosacea) seeds a while back. They took longer than I'd hoped to get here, then I took longer than I'd intended to get to them. Only so much info on what sort of treatment they do best with, but what little I found...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[ShadyStump]

Update on the big tooth maples.
No other seeds have sprouted, but these two have actual maple type leaves now. Otherwise, they've done next to nothing in a month and a half.

I need to rearrange some things, but I think I'll pull them out of the greenhouse and put them with the rest of my trees. Maybe more fresh air and sunlight is what they need.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Seed updates.

The two big tooth maples ran out of room in their covered container, so I took the lid off.
View attachment 493267
They do not have big teeth, nor do they look like maples. I'm sure they'll grow up just fine, though.
Will get their first fertilizer dose soon I think.

Planted my curl leaf mountain mahogany seeds today.
I'm going to use some for the ROR contest, so I've been documenting over there. Here's the link to the latest post.

Shady's '23 ROR Contest Thread

I ordered some curly leaf mountain mahogany (cercocarpus ledifolius, family rosacea) seeds a while back. They took longer than I'd hoped to get here, then I took longer than I'd intended to get to them. Only so much info on what sort of treatment they do best with, but what little I found...

www.bonsainut.com

Hehe!

Those TOTALLY look like maple seedlings!

 

[ShadyStump]

Been a while.

Those two maple seedlings didn't make it. Not sure if they dampened off or what, but they eventually wilted away. Nothing at all from the cercocarpus.
Still keeping the trays going just in case, but no real hopes.

With all my trees behind a fence I've really not done much all summer until today.

Tiny bit of wire on a benjamina clump.

Totally should've thought that out more. Started splitting the branch off. Hopefully it heals back together.

And a new go at the ROR challenge with a tiger bark.

You can find details over in my contest thread.

About time to clear out the garden, but migrating my tropicals will come first. As soon as we have a few consecutive nights in the 40s. So far it's shaping up to be a real autumn here, so shouldn't be long.

 

[ShadyStump]

Not bonsai related, but sorta tree related.

My 8yo found a bird egg on the ground under a neighbor's juniper. We'll see what happens.

 

[ShadyStump]

Not bonsai related, but sorta tree related.
View attachment 535319
My 8yo found a bird egg on the ground under a neighbor's juniper. We'll see what happens.

Oh, yeah, nothing happened. Guess there was a reason it was on the ground and not in a nest.

Anyways, cleaning up the back porch. I have a collection of scrap lumber from the last job that's been in the way. Federal tax return came in, so now I have parts for the Shop Smith, too.

Garden is sucking so far. Nighttime lows won't rise above 40sF so everything is starting slow, the kids of course don't want to help, I've found that there are bugs eating all the roots anyway, and the trash collector likes to set the can back down right in the middle of the sunflowers on the back fence.

As soon as the weather catches up, and tropicals recover from moving outside, there will be A LOT of repotting. Missed the window on some of the conifers and deciduous that could use it, so I'll see how they're looking come fall.

BUT we finally figured out the next step in the cyberpunk entertainment center project!
Pegboard. Lots of pegboard.

Stay tuned for updates.

 

[ShadyStump]

Got the pegboard project rolling this evening.
Took a turn beyond what I had planned once my oldest daughter got going with the spray paint.

The plan


But it's hard to stop an autist artist.



We'll hang them tomorrow, and you'll get to see the whole thing.

 

[ShadyStump]

I may need to just keep all my trees inside for ever now.
My 8yo's tree is doing better than most of mine!


Between the grasshopper plague the past couple years, and this summer's scorching sun with highs in the 100s a week or more at a time, I have had quite a few casualties this season. Now that the seasons are changing we'll see if any are still alive, and there are several that look dead that I might overwinter anyway just in case. I needed to cut back anyway, but I'd hoped to do it by selling or giving away a few this fall.

Surprisingly, my gardenias are hanging on nicely, just not allot of blooming thanks to the grasshoppers.

I'll be cutting back the tropicals soon for their move indoors.

 

[ShadyStump]

Mentioned it in the, "what did you do today," thread; here's that ficus benjamina from my friend who's moving out of state.

Almost 6 foot high at it's tallest, but all very leggy. Decent trunk compared to what I'm used to starting with, though.



Kept a bit too wet at times, and WTF is up with this plastic? Looks like whoever she got it from never quite got around to moving it out of the original nursery can.

Came out easily enough. Nothing to brag about underneath, though.


Tubers and tips all gone. I made slits in the meat right above where the bark was callusing over the rot to hopefully encourage ground layering. I didn't want to completely girdle it because I'd like to keep a little bit of that lower trunk.



8822 with just a bit of coco coir and manure, all the way up over the the slits I made, and watered it in.