Busy Few Weeks at Kaizen Bonsai.

You’ll guess from the title of this post that it’s been a Busy Few Weeks at Kaizen Bonsai. Not that we have been selling much particularly, just enough to keep the wheels on. Feels to me like our collective personal finances are beginning to look a lot like our country in general, in a word…. ailing.

The bonsai business has, in my experience, always been largely recession proof. Take 2008 and all that banker malarkey, despite it all folk spent money on what really mattered to them which in our context was bonsai. Whilst things generally were falling apart, our little business doubled it’s size. This time things seem a different, a lot more serious, I might say darker. Things in Blighty are not good, our once proud country seems to be tearing itself apart. But enough of that maudlin shit, i know you came here for enlightenment and to enjoy my sunny disposition and uplifting prose and hopefully some nice pictures of bonsai right?

In the last month it’s been nice to welcome in a whole host of new Japanese trees and raw material. Thankfully the cost pressures on import have eased a little as shipping costs have fallen a bit. However demand for bonsai trees and material in all their forms continues to outstrip supply worldwide so on balance don’t expect tree prices to be falling any time soon. Here are the first few I listed for sale this week. Details here>

 

We have had a great few weeks producing some new videos, yes I finally have time again after several years and my software is working too, which it did not for a long time. Being an OLD clod-hopper I need something pretty simple to do this work. Editing video is still less attractive to me than breaking the ice off the bird bath with my bare ass first thing in the morning but I guess we all have to do things we don’t really want too. I think it’s what they call ‘being a grown up‘.

It was a great experience to collaborate with me ol’ mate Kevin (follow on Instagram) on what we both believe to be currently the best scots in the country (unless you know different, let me know). There are a good number of similar projects earmarked for the coming months. We have also been getting heads together over some other interesting possibilities…… stay tuned.

We have been very busy with importing ALL SORTS of bonsai soil products. Since Brexit this has become so difficult, time consuming and expensive that next year I will start importing aggregates from the moon, it’s easier and cheaper.

As a result our warehouse is bursting with thirty to forty tons of bonsai growing products ready for what we affectionately call ‘soil season’. We have massive stocks off all the usual favourites like Akadama and Pumice in a number of grades including an all new Pumice Fine Sand.

Other new products include a very fine clean grade of our popular expanded clay Supalite Fine . Also pleased our popular Lapillo Fine is back in stock.

NEW! Premium Bonsai Compost – Shohin Soil Mix

Also on the soil front, for months now I have had folk asking what happened to our amazing Shohin Soil Mix. Well, after covid many manufacturers dropped a lot of products that we needed to make that and it’s literally only the last few weeks some are starting to return. As a result I’m very pleased to say we now have an ALL NEW and much improved  NEW! Premium Bonsai Compost – Shohin Soil Mix. This is at a great price considering the work it takes to make and how many elements we have to bring together in order to make it happen. Do not leave it to the last minute to order as if we get insanely busy it will disappear again should our workload preclude it’s production.

There have also been new deliveries of pots ready for the spring season along with Japanese tools. I have also been busy securing supplies of some of our most popular Bonsai Carving Tools. Popular tools like our little Pencil Bit, as Kevin calls it. Securing supplies of all sorts of things is now much harder and more expensive than it was but pleased to say this popular little tool will be available at the same great price for a long time to come now. There are a few new tools and some returning favourites too so please check out the web site.

Much like bonsai trees themselves we never really get time to rest. The world has become a very uncertain place over the last few years and doing what we at KB do has become increasingly hard but rest assured we have got ya’lls back and a literal mountain of stock ready for the new season when it starts. Some smart folk have already been taking advantage and buying their re-potting supplies in advance, to those who have we thank you for easing our workload in the new year.

Over the coming few weeks I have a number of video projects I am hoping to get done if time and weather allow so do stop by regularly. Next up is a monster privet I collected 7-8 years ago and has been untouched since, should be a good one. If it does not work out or looks crap of course you won’t see it, i don’t need help to look like a chump now do I?

I keep getting requests to do a garden walk-around which of course I am not going to. First reason, I don’t have a display garden just a very utilitarian sort of little commercial nursery. Second, i’m quite attached to many of my trees and the last thing I need is some little scrote helping himself to my hard work just before my dog gets teeth into his nut sack. Who needs all that grief ?

However what I have done is a quick walk through my scruffy, ie busy, workshop early this freezing winters morning. It’s a bit dark and shaky but it is free so please enjoy and please keep buying our stuff so I can keep the wheels on. Cheers.

Graham.