Preparing for Spring at Herons

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Today is the 22nd of January and I will Say Happy New Year to you because this Is the first video I've done in the New Year not only that it is Chinese New Year today so that is why I'm wishing You Happy New Year It is still freezing cold the last seven Or eight days the temperature at night Has been minus five minus six the day Temperature is like -3 today is the First day when the temperature has gone Slightly above freezing freezing all the Frost is gone but you can see Everything is frozen solid lumps of ice Like that so as you can imagine it's Ever so cold so I thought I'd still wear My Hawaiian shirt these are the Oversized Hawaiian shirts that my Friends sent to me or YouTube fans sent To me and I'm wearing it over my fleece So I'm cheating a bit so what do I have To do at this time of the year it is now The third week in January and this is When things start getting very exciting This is the time we have to look for a Repotting and do all sorts of things so Although it's the first day that things Have started thawing I'm already looking Ahead to see what needs to be done so I'm going to go through all these pots To see whether they need to be repotted Or not and I will take you through the Entire process of assessing whether a Tree needs repotting or whatever

In any case there are lots of jobs to do So I will take you into the back Greenhouse and I will tell you that There are certain jobs that are waiting To be done Explain that to [Music] That too so starting from this row of Evergreens these are a Chinese junipers Mind you they've been in the open all Through the winter and we've had Temperatures I told you minus seven for Maybe 10 days Non-Stop and lots of rain So these Pines and junipers have stood In the open all the time when we've had Freezing conditions you notice that some Of my staff have started fertilizing the Trees They put it down about a week ago I Wouldn't normally put it as early as This but it's an experiment that we've Been doing so I know it's not the Conventional thing to do but we thought We would try to see if it makes any Difference to the trees in the UK we Have very mild Winters relatively mild Compared to North America and Canada and Parts of Central Europe so putting it in Mid-January it's maybe a bit early but I Would normally put it around early March So let's see what happens it may produce New growth and may help to prolong the Growing season So many of these trees I will look at

Maybe in a couple of weeks time but I Think they don't need to be repotted as A rule I have found that over the many Years that I've been growing Bonsai I Have come to the conclusion that trees Like junipers and Pines Do not need to be repotted that often I've had Pines and junipers in pots for Five seven even ten years and they still Look very healthy so don't rush to repot Your Evergreens without checking if it Is really really pot bombed we will Probably consider repotting we will Check some of these in a couple of weeks Time because we've just had a very cold Night so all the soil is frozen solid Absolutely solid so we can't do anything About it so all these trees have been Out in the open And now I'm going to take you into our Back Greenhouse to see what the Condition of the trees are like over There So these are all Endormances still But hopefully they'll start springing up And you can see that all our Maples too Have been left in the open and I know That they are Hardy they won't come to Any harm many people are always worried That oh if I keep them out in the open Will they die but you've just got to Believe in yourself and understand your Species see this is frozen solid this is

A beach group they're Hardy so most of The Hardy trees should survive so we Will see we will follow the progress and These shared structures these shade Structures have been here and they only Provide overhead protection from the Cross they do freeze solid the soil is Absolutely rock hard And these were trees that came from Japan last year So they seem okay More trees that we have made Priya has made So all these look good So we will follow the progress in the Spring while we are passing This is what we call the frost blush in America they call it the bronzing of the Evergreens junipers And Pines to a certain extent but mainly Juniper's cryptomerius and also they use Japanese you I will take you to some Japanese yuvo and you will see that they Are bronzed as well so this patch here [Music] These jump issues have been bronzed Because of the cold but if you look Inside it's bright green so where the Frost doesn't touch it it stays green But where the Frost gets it it turns the Spongy color Now I will now take you into the back Greenhouse where the trees are slightly Warmer and I'm going to do some work

There so let me show you what I'm going To do If we come into this house first of all Let's show you these trees that Kevin Wilson worked on these are the English U Now I'm going to continue keeping them In these large containers or pots for Another year just to get it to grow Strongly if I were to Tinker with the Roots it may set the tree back a little Bit so I'm not going to repot them I know a lot of people are very eager to Pop them up because they want to see the Finished article but this is where You've got to exercise some patience So this is another one so you recognize All the three projects we did they're Going to remain in the pots and they're Not going to be touched and we will Follow the progress to see how they have Been growing during the coming year I will also be taking you through some Projects that I've done in the past Because they are worth following up At this time of the year just before Spring starts This is when I start pruning the maples Back look at this this is a child and Maple and this long shoot which is Almost about 70 or 80 centimeter long Has grown in the last year Me like this I will just go through and Cut these long shoots you must be asking Me why I didn't cut it during the summer

I don't always cut it in the summer Because I like the trees to grow strong The branches and the trunks have the Chicken the pots that need thickening And then spring this is the early part Of spring and not quite spring But just before this the sap starts Rising that's the time I like to cut and I'm going to go through all the maples Which are in this greenhouse Remember I always remind people that Things which are growing in the Greenhouse have a head start they have Like a month uh Advance over the trees Which are in the open so if you look Carefully at this Hornby Mr jeffy's Horny look at the flower buds on that That's already starting to move So this is very early so you've got to Really keep an eye on it and once you Come into the month of February and March you have to really really watch it Because suddenly everything will start Spurting so these are long Maple shoots These are all growth that has Been in the last year So it's just a question of going through It And cutting them back Very simple job but it has to be done at This time of the year And the step is starting to rise So you can imagine all this has to be Cut cut back like that

Lots of work to do so it's just a Question of going through methodically And cutting back I won't do the entire tree because I Want to show you some other trees that Need this sort of work this is another Example Celtic sinensis And you see again 70 80 centimeter long Shoots cut it back to a triangular shape Now this one I will probably keep Because I want to train it as a branch Like that so not all the shoots are cut Back I know that some of these branches can Be used for hardwood cuttings but since I've got such a lot I won't even bother Anyone who comes to another Nursery Today can have these for free So this is the process of making Ramification A lot of people Talk a lot of Complicated Things about ramification But to put it simply it's just a Question of pruning the long shoots and Forcing side shoots to grow no more than That these are all maples And I will probably throw that quite Hard The pomegranate I've got to watch the Species different species require Different treatment

That's hard enough here yeah I tried Yeah that also needs it it's not I can't Get in there but I sure saw other trees Which I have here This is really just a Checkover of how the trees are growing Now this is a You look at that lovely rough bark and Again I'm trying to make this tree Strong so again all these long shoots I Just go through where the Falcons The more I look at the focal the more I Am Intrigued with what it can do although We sell Japanese Bonsai tools I find That the Falco does much much more Than many of the Bonsai tools can do So again this is the process of Improving and increasing ramification so Just prune it into a conical shape All the lawsuits are pruned back into a Conical shape And that's it if I were to leave this Another two or three weeks you'll find That the maples bleed like anything they Will bleed a lot So this is what I do to all the maples Which are Yeah [Music] You know this look at this one let's see How long it is so these have all got to Be cut back I don't want to devote a complete video

Just to show how to do this that would Be too boring for words [Music] Some of these trees if they get Too Tall I will probably airlift and make it into A shorter tree so there's that side as Well Now let me follow up on some of these Air layerings that I did because during The year we did quite a few air Layerings just now this is a deshoujo Air layering that we did from the tree In the front of my house And this was Done in April and we separated it in June or July and then potted it And look at the roots on that So that's doing quite well let me show You some Other subjects which we earliered while I'm here Let me show you these Magnolias I have a Large magnolia tree and I love magnolia Flowers because the scent is absolutely Out of this world And look at that tree this was air laid In March Separated And I think they're lots of wood look at The roots on that beautiful roots So this I'm going to transfer into a pot With soil and that would be the next Stage So there are quite a few Magnolias just

Another one The beauty of air layering is so Exciting you know Getting cheese for free as it were but In our case of course we sell them Look at this this was alien again in March look at the roots on that they're Earliering Beautiful so this will all be cutted up And I have another big one over there Let's walk around this way I'll show you some more areas This is another day Shoujo branch And again you see all the roots have Formed it's potted up in soil So all I added has been successful That's our Firepower All looking well That's also air layering put in soil That's a decision they showed you they Showed yours And this is another Magnolia that we Added Look at the roots on that foreign Beautiful beautiful so this will be Potted up in soil So this is the progress Now we have quite a few jobs to do so It's trimming that I'm going to do While I'm passing these are etoy gowers Look at the beautiful toy Gower here and Because the leader was deliberately left To grow long The tree is only going to be like that

But what we're doing with this part is To make another tree so you can see all These have been early look at it the Whole load hundreds of them were earlier And that's how we propagate them and These were done as late as October Wasn't it October and look at it already Roots are coming Throughout the winter this has been Producing roots So if you do it correctly and you give It the protection of the greenhouse they Will root during winter so that is Another thing you can bear in mind Not everyone has a greenhouse But if you have protection that you can Give to the plants and these were air Layerings that we did Back in I think may have been like July And we separated them after like six Weeks And I haven't looked at it Not cheating let's see what happens Okay the roots are coming through The roots are coming true the roots are Coming through so We've got another new plant from that We prize our eat our gowers so although We bring small quantities from Japan we Also produce our own itoy powers And because I've just come back from India let me show you some of the things I came across while I was in India

Now I always talk about Gene pliers And Even people in India don't think of Using it this is a proper Japanese gin Plus but a good substitute has always Been these We call it Chinta These are for holding the pants hot Pants like that If you have a fan that you want to grip So that's what you use it for So lovely tool that substitutes for gin Plus While I was there this is a Bengali Newspaper that I picked up And these were tools from the campus Market My University campus market and I Couldn't resist buying these tools And look at it This is like a Tuning tool for scraping this is a sharp Edge there And this only cost me Less than 10 pence I mean 10 cents 10 U.S cents and this is Another scraper again you can use for Scraping But these are all crude gardening tools So again another 10 pence Look at that lovely handle all hand made By villagers There you go so You don't have to spend a lot of money

When I was out in India I showed people How to use A potato peeler potato peeler is also Very good for gin now in case you don't Know what this is The Indian people use this for scraping The tongue you know when they brush Their teeth and wash their mouth they Scrape the tongue with this stainless Steel but I found that this is very Useful for scraping the bark of trees You can use this for scraping the bug so As I say you don't have to spend masses Of money on Tools you can use these simple Ordinary Day Uh appliances gadgets whatever you call It they all have Some use You can see how these were made these Are in fact Reinforcing bars isn't it reinforcing Iron bars and the blacksmith have used It to Forge a blade out of it There you go