Altering appearance of garden accessories (for want of a better title)

At 10:10 AM 12/22/99 EST, you wrote:
 >
>another alternative is , after the "acid pickling", bury the rock in horse
>manure (sheep would be ok, too).
>this is an old technique used by a long famous nursery woman here in the
>sayouth.
>she buried hers in fall, and would have (the help) unearth them in spring.
>after misting, the mosses would appear soon.

>feel free to ask anything on or off list.
>
>y'all be good
>

Harry et al., while we are on the subject of moss/beer/vinegar treatment of
concrete/limestone/wood, whatever...I have a bunch of poured concrete
stepping stones that I bought real cheap at a flea market. They are
white,white,white and pop right out at you from the garden.

I would like to change their color to make them blend more naturally into
the landscape. I've investigated concrete stains at Home Depot, but those
come in much to large a can for my purposes. I've also picked up a bag full
of walnut, still in their black/green fleshy capsule, with the thought of
crushing them and rubbing them on the surface. Another thought that has
occurred to me is to bury them in a pile of oak leaves for the winter and
see if they are stained as well as my driveway is at the moment.

But your manure idea caught my eye. Obviously, I don't want slippery moss
or algae growing on my stepping stones, but I wonder if burying in manure
will give them that aged look I want.

Any ideas or experience with the above methods (for staining) out there?

Thanks, Gerry
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