TROUGHS

[David Nicholson]

1. Yes-the patio, which is the only flat place in the whole of the back garden, is currently littered by numerous bread trays full of seed pots, which, I'm told, could cause serious damage to life and limb,whilst the serious business of washing hanging out is being undertaken. Given that there are only two full time members of the household why it is necessary to wash clothes nearly every day somewhat defeats me

2. Yes, but not this sink which seems to be the problem. Mark, were you a married man you would know when the time comes to give in gracefully

[Gerry Webster]

I'd just like to echo Ian's advice. I cast some hypertufa troughs about 25 years ago & they still look good, indeed they improve with age. Making them is very easy.  Plants seem to like them  whereas they didn't like  troughs made from sand & cement. I've never coated a sink but have seen quite a lot where part of the coating has fallen off. Very ugly.

[ChrisB]

I have a couple of belfast sinks covered in hypertufa, and yes, corners sometimes get knocked off, so when I'm mixing the mix up anyway, I just patch them up, they look fine I reckon, and the patched bits soon blend in.  Do try to keep the sink, David, SWMBO will like it once you've got it fully covered and growing plants.  Can't you find somewhere else to store seed pots?  I can understand how she might not like them being littered around, but a lovely sink with flowering plants will be lovely.  Until you do find a place, what about putting some of the seed pots into the sink so they are a bit more hidden from view?  Hope you win.....

[Maggi Young]

I've received this message from a new forumist, which I'm posting here for him.... it's from Bob Resch, who says:
"Newbie's First post:
This is my first post as a new member. I am not sure if I have done it correctly by sending to Ms. Young.
   I live in La Grange, Illinois, a southwestern suburb of Chicago, been a NARGS member for a couple of years and have visited your site over the last few months researching rock gardens and the related plants. Within that exercise I discovered how to make a trough from a poly box. It is much easier the hypertufa!
   My thank you to Chris Jones and Ian Young for the instructions to make a  planting trough out of a polystyrene box.
   Fish boxes are rare in the Chicago area but being a well trained childhood “junker” I was successful at finding a sturdy alternative from a neighbor’s cast-off.
   Work has begun; it is a messy business at best. I only hope Kay, my wife, does not venture into the darker recesses of our basement. I will be in seriously deep waters from what she finds.
   Progress is good and I expect to plant the trough later this spring. There may be time to do another before I am “caught” and forced to clean up my act.
   I am having trouble finding cement paint in small quantities and wonder if acrylic artist paint, which I understand is waterproof, would be a good substitute?
   Thanks for sharing the information, gentlemen.
Looking forward to an exciting learning experience.

Bob Resch-La Grange, Illinois-Zone 5a-"

[Maggi Young]

Great to have Bob join in the forum....and terrific to find another convert to the fish box trough!
But what help can we offer about the use of acrylic artist paint ?
I must say we have never used this .... having no problem in sourcing little sample pots of outdoor quality masonry paint for use on the troughs: on reflection, Ian and I think that it is worth trying the acrylic paint... it should certainly be wtaerproff but we don't know how long it may last on the trough: perhaps needing more frequent re-applications to keep it looking  good.... we think you'll need to give us updates on the situation, Bob, if you go ahead with it!
Since the Albertans and Minnesotans began their Fishbox demos from the SRGC method quite some years ago, the USA is getting quite used to the idea, we see!
Such fun!!
We'll be looking forward to photos, Bob! 

[Lesley Cox]

Reading back through this thread, I'm wondering about the eventual fate of your sink David. Did it return to the tip? I really hope you put your foot down and kept it for something (Diane's idea was excellent). After all, a quiet life has nothing to recommend it unless you get your own way at least half the time.

[Maggi Young]

Jan Tholhuisjen  is really  good at sharing his  experiences with making things for the garden to keep his plants happy - now he has  turned his attention to  something else helpful for all - Jan   has made a great compilation of Ian Young's trough making articles - "With permission from Ian I have 5 blogs about the fish box troughs collected and put into an e-book. It is very interesting info, to see how to make this type of troughs and see the planted results. You can download the entire report in PDF.
Click on the page, on the bottom right for full screen."

Click here to see  the  e-book : https://issuu.com/jantholhuijsen/docs/the_fish_box_troughs

 Well done, Jan!  Exactly what is needed for  a wider audience to see all Ian's  trough advice in one easy place!