new out door plunge

[mark smyth]

Something exciting happed while I was away in England.

A 3m x 90cm plunge that will hold 96 15cm pots or 133 13cm pots. That's a lot of potting!

Paint it? Plaster it? Coping stone or not?

I used to have bread baskets along there which held loads of pots

[Graeme]

Mark

It looks like it has been built out of standard blocks which are used and then plaster boarded or rendered

You probibly could have done with 'paint quiality' blocks which are about 10p more each - they have a much finer finish - if you see them in packs they usually have a PQ sprayed on one of them after the refence numbers - these are designed to be painted a lot easier

The ones I have built have still not been painted and have been up between 10-15 years I have intended paining them but just not got round to it

if you are painting them I would start by doing 50/50 water an PVA a couple of times 

ours are 13' long x 1m wide built into a bank side - I need to get some covers on them at some stage but they are full of box at the moment

[mark smyth]

Probable get it plastered before winter comes

[t00lie]

A 3m x 90cm plunge that will hold 96 15cm pots or 133 13cm pots. That's a lot of potting!

Or 1 large trough Mark =  no potting ! 

[Lesley Cox]

I'm with Dave there Mark. Have you thought of a sand bed? Even in shade, a sand bed can be a great home for precious things.

[Maggi Young]

Ha ha!  t00lie and Lesley - that's what I said to Mark -was he going to  plant it as a bed!  That's three votes for that already!

[mark smyth]

Have you thought of a sand bed? Even in shade, a sand bed can be a great home for precious things.

Yeah but how could I lift my precious bulbs to photograph them? Is there enough food in sand?

I did think of these http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets No problem with roots escaping out of those holes!

[Neil]

If you want mesh pots try ebay
http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=mesh+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xmesh+pot&sqp=mesh+pot

http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=Net+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xnet+pot&sqp=net+pot

[mark smyth]

and now I'm thinking an edging tile might be OK

[Graeme]

and now I'm thinking an edging tile might be OK

4" X 2" pressure treated wood?  those blocks will be 100mm wide (4") or just slightly less

cut to size - silicon on

[annew]

Yeah but how could I lift my precious bulbs to photograph them? Is there enough food in sand?

I did think of these http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets No problem with roots escaping out of those holes!

No problem with growing in sand, but I wouldn't recommend lifting baskets in growth, the roots grow out well into the sand (that's the whole point!) and would be damaged. Other people have used a small 3-sided backdrop to enclose the plunged plants for photographing in situ.