Mix some portland cement, polyfibers, peatmoss and perlite together add water. There are a bunch of recipes on the internet.

Put in mold made from 2" blue foamboard.

or for a more natural look dig a hole line with plastic and put mixture in mold.

Plant trough with rockgarden plants, alpine, minatures.

I am addicted to this. Luckily I sell them every year at an art show I help run, or I would be up into my ears with them.

Rue, how big are these? or, how large or small do you make them?
This is so cool....NEVER heard of this

Hi Rue,

Do you have pictures of these, or a link to a website we can go to to view them?

Here is are a couple of places that has directions and a few pictures:
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00117.asp

http://www.srpn.net/trough_plants.shtml

Oh my this sounds fun....You could make the pots any size you wanted AND any shape!

If I can find all the supplies I would like to start this project in a couple months after things settle down around here! But I am going to give it a try!

I read both links and they stated it was porous....do you personally make more holes using the masonary bit or leave it without making more holes? If the bottom happened to be upright ...say over an existing pot....is it possible to put say a straw or something poked in to make the hole and then remove it later?
Would it crack an object that is was covering...say another pot...when starting to dry?

They say they are less wt. than concrete....how less?

I have seen those done one of the HGTV shows..
They take cardboard boxes, bubble~wrap, put the
bubble wrap inside against the walls, and
then pour in the mixture, work up to the sides,
poke 3, 4, 5 drainholes with a pencil or nail
or something small and sharp while it's still wet.
Takes a day or two to dry according to the temp/humidity and then let it set for a while, takes up to 3 weeks to "cure" I thought and to let the "LIME" leach out from the cement I thought. I have wanted to make those, they look
relatively easy to make...

Rue,
Do you mix one up at a time
or do several at a time??
I remember them saying that the
hardest work of all was just the mixing part.
I had talked to my husband one time about
making those and he said he'd get his
buddies' cement mixer and do a bunch
at the same time.

How much do you sell them for??
Do you do them plain or filled??

Did we scare you away Rue with ALL the questions.....Nooooooo....come BACKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

I make 1 wheelbarrow full of mix each time.

That will make 1 large natural, 1 small natural and a couple of "rocks" to use in the plantings.

I like mine more heavy duty so I use more cement. I have 1 light one and you can scratch it with your fingernail, but it has withstood 2 winters in zone 5 with no problem.

You do need to add a drainage holes. I have a drill I use but you can use a dowel or some kind of plastic pipe. They aren`t really porous but are holey because of where to peatmoss washes out of the cement on the outside surfaces.

All my troughs are at least 6 inched deep. My first and biggest is 16 inches by 24 inches and 10 inches deep. I was too anxious to take it out of it`s mold and my hubby had made a wooden one that I couldn`t take apart and I broke the bottom off of the sides, the sides stayed intact.

I set the bottom down on the raised granite blocks put some hypertufa mix around the perimeter of the base and "glued" the sides back onto the base, It is planted and growing and holding up just fine.

So if you break one of your troughs don`t throw them out just repair them, it adds character.

Mine are too heavy to hang, they sit on granite blocks.

I make and plant them in the spring so I can enjoy them during the summer then sell them in November. The planting look more established and moss has started to grow on them by then too.

$25 to $55 planted. I have seen them at garden shops priced at $45 for an empty one smaller than the one I sell for $25!!

I found the polyfiber at a cement place. Lowe`s has all the other stuff. The temperature has to be at 40 or above for comfort and curing.