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Get your garden out

The wisteria is particularly impressive, I have not seen it produce so many spring flowers before.


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Lots happening in the garden now! Flat out trying to keep things under control, I looked in despair at my Chinese Elm today. There was hardly a leaf on it two weeks ago....
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Well I finally found time for the Elm just another 20 trees to go.....
 
Cool Bonsai! Looks like they have a bit of age, I always find the Chinese Elms die on me but plenty of Euro elm cuttings growing in the garden.

Trying to coax my succulents to life after winter. The pachypodia seem to be leafing but the Jalibee try is still a twig. Hope it survives as I grew it from seed.

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This tree is only around 30 years old but has some good rough bark and a good basic shape, I am still trying to grow it vigorously for another few years.
I will then put it in a nice container and try to hold it back with just some regular gentle leaf trimming and no more wire or hard pruning.
 
Hey TBRO , I love that plant in the first pic!

Thanks it’s some kind of pachypodium but can’t remember which.

Impressed by your Bonsai age! I’m also interested in it but have yet to create anything worthy from scratch. Got plenty of “material” growing in the garden. Definitely a slow burning hobby!


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I have some nice tees but I am reluctant to post to many pictures as google grabs them and thieves spot them!
It is a great pass time though, it is possible to get a really nice tree from mature garden stock, growing stock in the ground with bonsai intensions is one way to quick (relatively) results.
I started my first bonsai as a late teenager around 40 years back but I have a few trees that must be around 60 years old.
I also make my own containers and that is yet another pastime!
 
I have been renovating my garden firehouse, it is just a few fence panels with a plastic roof but we spend a lot of time in there!
The panels were 10 years old and in very poor shape, I have replaced 10 of them but this time around I have lined the inside with MDF so I could apply some wallpaper.
Amazing effect wallpaper available nowadays, I am going for a Steampumk theme for a large up and complete birthday party!
Lots to do but it’s all good fun....
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I did a lot of work in the garden back end of last year...digging a new boarder, widening the existing and transferring all the overgrown shrubs from the front garden to the back. I've lost a couple through frost and drought stress (you can see the gaps, which have since been replanted), but most seem to be getting over the shock and starting to grow well. I then set about planting a cottage garden style theme in the front.

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I am going for a Steampumk theme

Love it!! My old time favorite.. I like my garden aged and rusty, cast and wrought iron are my old time favorites.

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Love to collect old for most people worthless broken or incomplete stuff and for me potential curiosities.. see how i can put it together again to something useable.
SOmetimes it takes years to find, more stumble upon it, or just to get the idea what to do with it.
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Once found parts of an old cast iron chandelier. The cast iron pear at the bottom as counter weight And the pully at the top was all that was left..
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Found an other old chandelier that was broken and fixed it back together and working again. Pull the pear and the chandelier goes up, lift the pear and it comes down. ALso ballanced it, can go half way if i want. :)
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And an old british wrought iron lamp holder.. Made complete again from 5 different parts found here and there.. Still need to wire it.. I think i go completely out of the box with it.... I put a RGBW bluetooth smart bulb in it with disco light feature controlled with a smartphone. :rolleyes:
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:)
 
Ha ha cool, it is a challenge finding suitably props without spending to much!

There was at one time a huge (by Guernsey standards) factory over here called Techtronics .
They were an American company that produced oscilloscopes, anyway my brother in law worked there for many years and when the factory relocated ( the building is not Specsavers main HQ) he got hold of a faulty oscilloscope.

As an inherited owner, I decided it would work in my design so I took it apart to use the parts.....

I was absolutely amazed at the workings inside! An incredible amount of wires and components.
Everything was hand built so every solder joint was done by hand ... thousands of joints !

To be honest I felt a huge guilt complex coming over me as I dismantled the thing with a 9” grinder!
I could not get anything apart with the tools I had to hand, all the fixings were of 1980 American design.
Anyway at least a few bits now lives on, now displayed rather than rotting in a dark shed.

I have the main screen , the main light tube and some circuitry on display but lots of valves and other wizardry for future use...
PS I got a 100 year old doctors case today for £10 ....
 
Ha ha cool, it is a challenge finding suitably props without spending to much!

Patience to the resque. :) That does it for me.. But indeed if your mind is dead set on finishing something it can get out of hand. I believe it took me about 7 years to finish the chandelier and the lamp finding/collecting parts and ideas... Sometimes it requires some diggin in the shed, finding things i forgot i aready had long time..


Love it!! I hear Dr. Who theme looking at that.. :lol: But that large wheel definitively needs a valve.. :thumbup:
 
Another new Garden job... :) Named Pimp my Cast Iron Antique Water Pump..

It's going to be placed behind a ½ wine barrel water filled and planted. There will be some extra piping and a little electric pump mounted as if the old pump is running.

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Base color stays Hammerite black.. :) But the Swan at the sprout is going to be painted Hammerite White, black striping and with an orange beak, as realistic as possible.

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For the rest the striping, lettering and the handles ornamental leave decoration will be painted with Hammerite Copper.
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Restored Kitsch to the max, this pump is asking for it, it has so manny ornamental decoration that needs to be accentuated...

But still a lot of work..

The old Oak wooden plank it was mounted to.. It was that Old Barndoor green color. Why did people ever use that paint.. It's awfull.. I'm cleaning the paint off and varnish it with a clear dark oak color. It takes time, i like to do things the old fashion way, flame toarch, a bottle of Natrium hidroxyde, scratcher and sand papper. Not using electrical tools is so much more fun and more satisfying. It kinda brings me back in time and feel what the old craftsman back then felt. Putting some real ellbow greass into it.
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:) I'll keep you posted on the results..

Unfortenately it is not mine and will move to another garden when i'm done.. But i'll test run it on my barrel, just for the fun of it for a few weeks.. :thumbup:
 
Some updates.. :)

Who in their right mind paints an oak plank like this Barn Door Green?... :eek: No pun intended.. :rolleyes:
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Not that i want to hijack this topic with DIY stuff.. But maybe you like to see anyway.. :)

The pump has a crack and was missing a piece.. It needed some repair
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First i needed to make a mold to preserve the relief, used a 2 component epoxy putty for it.. (Bison Combi Stick..)
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It hardens in 30 minutes, did put some grease on the pump to easily get the mold off again..
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Than taped the mold over de missing piece.. Pressed in some more Putty..

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Amazing result amazing stuff, with a bit of paint, it will no longer be seen if you don't know it was there.. :thumbup: The crack i filled up with polymer glue.

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old style Hyflow piston air pumps
Crikey I remember those, My school biology lab used one for the axolotl tank. I'm sure there was a time when you couldn't give them away.
 
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