This year I'm going to try Hypertufa troughs for container gardening. Here's a few links.

http://www.efildoog-nz.com/hypertufa.htm
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00117.asp

Anyone else use them?

Pennygale

Our own Rue Anemone does those..
If you want some help or good info
she can stear you in the right direction....

Pennygale- do it!! It is so much fun. It does take some muscle mixing up the concrete, but it is well worth the effort.

My suggestion- try one in the ground without a mold. You will see if you enjoy making them without the cost and time of building a mold. (I use the 2 inch styrofoam insulation board for my molds. They last longer then cardboard boxes and easier to change the size then wooden boards.)

Dig a hole deep enough to end up with a trough at least 5 inched deep and as big around as you like 12-18 inches is a good size. If you want the outside of your trough to look like a geode do not smooth the hole, but leave divots in the sides. The bottom needs to be a bit level so the trough can rest on it when done. Line the hole with plastic and you are ready for your hypertufa mixture.

If you are impatient and accidently break one taking it out of the mold, just patch it back together with more hypertufa mix. I did this with one of mine and I think it is the neatest trough I have because of the added texture. I really need to get a picture of that one.

I have made and sold troughs for the past six? years, I just can't get enough of them!!

I started selling them because I thought I had enough in my garden AND I wanted to help support my addiction. LOL!!

My heart starts pounding just thinking about the tiny mosses and thymes creeping over the edges of the troughs.

Ooooooh I can't wait to talk with you about this when I try it! Gimme a few weeks and I'm gonna jump in. I'm really wanting to try a molded one. How thick do you usually make yours? Same thickness for the sides and the bottom?

Also, what's your favorite thing to grow in them? I plan to try lavender this year in a container:)

Pennygale

Hey all,

Have any of you tried your hand at making any Hypertufa Grots??? Just in case you don't know what Grots are, here's what EFIL DOOG (a site all about Hypertufa as well as the pots, tubs, Grots, and sculptures made from it:

Without a doubt, they are cute and would make a "neat" addition to a garden!! Here's how to find out about them: Grots

Robert

I make my sides and bottoms 1 1/2 inches thick. I like the look of the thicker sides, but it does make it heavier. The old original stone troughs had thick sides.

I like to grow miniature and alpine plants in my troughs.

I haven't made any Grots yet. I need to, I have a lot of spots in my garden where they would be really cool.

some of my troughs

Your troughs are wonderful, rue!
You have quite the eye for planting them too!

Aren't they..
I love looking thru them, allllllll the time..
such great ideas...

**someday I ammmmmmmm going to do these..**
and it's so much fun looking thru them in
the meantime..

*I'll have to go dig out those other hyper~tufa places, the one with it all done on a bank..
very cool idea...* remind me..

Hey rue,

I love the troughs that you made. And as plants 'n pots said, you do have an eye for planting them. My favorite trough is the free form one. What did you use to "shape" and "form" the top of it? Also, have you or anyone that you know tried making a small bird bath out of Hypertufa? If so, what how well did it hold up?

Thanks,
Robert

You put the hypertufa mixture on the top edge unevenly and the hole I dug was uneven. The 2 rocks are pieces that broke off the trough when I was roughing the sides up with a wire brush.

So save all the broken pieces to use in landscaping your trough. The wire brush helps get rid of the smoothness and what looks like folds from laying up against the plastic lining that you put in the hole.

check this out

Rue,

Super C... O... O... L... link!!

That's one that made it to my "Favorites" list!!

Thanks a bunch!

Here's Rue's original post..
I should have said hypertufa trough gardening

And here's an URL we thought was a wayyyyyy
cooolll idea.. if you had an area to do this...
Hypertufa
*the one line that says:
Setting the troughs, sculpting the mountain
is the one where you see the begining of the project for what to do..
and *the one line that says:
One year later - the results
is what it looks like in the end....

Thanks Weezie. My wife has wanted a garden much like the one at that site. But, we knew that making one from typical stone planters would be more than our meager budget would ever allow for. Thanks to the information on that site, we just might be able to do one!

Thanks again

ohhhhhhhh, if you do, I'd be tickled pink
to see the out come..
I am absolutely in love with that concept...
If I had a bank to hold back...*I'm in town
and on fllllllllllat land* but what a neat idea...

*side note and off subject ***
Hope you post some stuff on your bees..
*would love to do that someday myself too,
but being in town, they frown upon that..* :rolleyes:

Weezie, I've posted stuff about my bees on my new web site. Were you talking about posting something somewhere else?

As for living on flat land, you could have a dump truck bring you a load of dirt...... just an idea on how to make a "mountain" out of a "flatland"!!!