This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

[miniaturerockgardens] Re: Plastic troughs?

From: "Alan Grainger" <alpines@ukonline.co.uk>

Hi Diana et al
Plastic containers of any description are notorious for being poor 'bonders'
(I work in the plastics industry). Their smooth non-porous make up does not
allow for the hypertufa, or paint, to be applied with any hope of adhesion.
There is a way of doing it and that is to 'flame' the plastic first. This
involves applying a flame to the surface of the plastic container until such
time as it goes dull (the container that is, not the flame) and that should
be a matter of seconds. It is then possible to apply a primer and then a top
coat of paint. All very messy and very dangerous.
Hypertufa WILL stick to styrofoam providing some basic rules are applied.
See my article
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/alpines/trough%20garden.htm
I have had troughs made like this for over 15 years and the hypertufa does
stay on nicely.

HOWEVER..............an even more simple and possibly lighter weight
construction would be a styrofoam box painted with MASONRY paint. I have
seen this work to good effect and looks much better than a plastic
container.
Simply score the styrofoam box with a knife in a criss-cross fashion
(doesn't have to be more than an a couple of millimetres deep) and simply
paint on the masonry paint. Another effect, is to add some sharp sand to the
paint and this will give an even more natural appearance.

A good source for these boxes is the local fishmonger. Fresh fish is often
transported to the shops and supermarkets in them and the odour will
disappear within a couple of days if left in the open air.

I am fortunate in that I do not suffer any disability at this time in my
life but I am constantly striving to make life easier for myself in the
garden and the above are just a few ideas that spring to mind.

Mark is quite correct that the rock and the soil add greatly to the weight.
Tufa is an excellent replacement for sandstone and limestone and has a
significant weight advantage in a trough. The other thing to bear in mind of
course is that 'small is beautiful'. I have seen a brick (yes, a house
brick) 9" x 4" with a hole drilled through it and a saxifrage planted into
the hole. It looked terrific. Whilst writing about this, another thing that
sprung into my mind was 'Well what about a styrofoam brick?' Why not I ask
myself? Painted as suggested above, it would look just the same and would be
eminently more portable and easier to handle.

I hope these few suggestions will prove useful to you or at the very least
inspire you to experiment.
Best Regards
Alan
E mail me at
alpines@ukonline.co.uk
or visit The Alpine Garden at
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/alpines



------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that ONElist hosts some of the largest lists on the Internet?
http://www.ONElist.com
Our scaleable system is the most reliable free e-mail service on the Internet!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mountains in miniature -- create your own alpine scenes
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index