Dear LPG, 

They say that keeping the mind occupied is one of the best things that we older people can do for our brains but finding something new to hold the attention is often a challenge.  The thought of learning a new language or working towards getting the body fit enough to run a marathon in old age, depending on if life has been kind enough to your body for such an ambitious undertaking, may well be a path worth taking on, but for those who don’t feel that equipped there are some unconventional pastimes that might be worth exploring.

I recently read what GM had to say about having a few indoor plants (►►►) and it got me to thinking.  I too have never had any luck when it comes to keeping green stuff in the house and, until reading what he had to say, I never really had any interest in such an idea either.

When you get older it gets harder for your younger family members to find unusual Christmas and birthday presents for you, but over the past three years I have been given a fully-fledged Bonsai, and two tree starter kits which have not worked.  I have sort of followed the instructions without any real success.  The fully-grown one is surviving and provides a topic for conversation when I have visitors sometimes, but I feel that the fact that it looks so good is not really down to me.  For a while now I have been feeling the need to have another go, but this time I plan to do it without the starter kit.

My thinking is that I will take care of it better if it is all my own work and having watched a few videos on the subject it doesn’t look that difficult.  They say knowledge shared is a good thing so if there are any readers out there looking for a more unusual hobby which will not be too physically demanding, I thought a little reading about how to get started from scratch may inspire a few readers, and having looked up the information needed, it must be worth sharing…

They say that it takes about three years and a bit of regular TLC to create something resembling a true bonsai tree, so here goes… 

DT, Catford

DT shares what she has learned…

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