This is a step by step guide to the procedure for making your hypertufa pots. Find all the hints and tips for making your own and getting it textured
How to Make Hypertufa; join in the fun and learn how to make this unique garden craft; use these instructions to make troughs, pinch pots and many more great hypertufa projects
This is a guide about hypertufa craft projects. This simple mixture of Portland cement with substances like perlite and peat moss makes porous artificial stone pots, planters, or garden art in any shape or size you can imagine.
Today, I’ll show you how to make just about anything you can imagine with hypertufa using inexpensive materials you can buy from your closest home center. I’ll also show you all of the many ways you can use this versatile material to achieve various different textures and finishes without much effort. What is Hypertufa? Tufa is […]
A guide to uses for hypertufa troughs, as well as the easiest way to make and shape hypertufa for your use in your lawn and garden areas.
How to Make Hypertufa; join in the fun and learn how to make this unique garden craft; use these instructions to make troughs, pinch pots and many more great hypertufa projects
A guide to uses for hypertufa troughs, as well as the easiest way to make and shape hypertufa for your use in your lawn and garden areas.
If you have been making hypertufa for a while, I am sure you have altered the basic hypertufa recipe to some degree for a particular item you are making, for the conditions you're making it
How To Make Hypertufa...
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend taking a Saturday morning class at The Garden Spot. Many classes are free, offering information and inspiration. My inspiration always seems to be attac…
Concrete decorations for the yard, especially birdbaths, are heavy and immobile due to the weight. A hypertufa birdbath looks like concrete but is more lightweight and easier to manage. Use any container as a mold for a birdbath. Look around, find a design that is preferable, and make a hypertufa birdbath.
There are lots of things you can use for Forms for Hypertufa; some of them are right under your nose...
Hypertufa is a cement-based mixture that is as versatile as it is strong. This incredibly durable material can be molded into any desired shape or size. Hypertufa is a great option to get the look of stone without all the weight. Plus, it can withstand all the outdoor elements and it only gets better with […]
Learn how to create a planter made with hypertufa, a material that has an ancient, hand-hewn quality. They are perfect for alpines, succulents, mosses and more.
Do you use anything for reinforcing hypertufa? Is it necessary? If you do use reinforcement, what do you use? I can tell you what and when I use fibers or
Make these unique containers yourself. Over time, the artificial stone beds will age and gather moss for added charm.
Today, I’ll show you how to make just about anything you can imagine with hypertufa using inexpensive materials you can buy from your closest home center. I’ll also show you all of the many ways you can use this versatile material to achieve various different textures and finishes without much effort. What is Hypertufa? Tufa is […]
How to choose Hypertufa Molds; they can be as simple as a piece of drycleaners poly film, or as complex as a salvaged basket
I've been pretty obsessed lately. I have been introduced to a world of cement, acrylic, and plywood, and I just cannot get enough of it! My friend John Holm, horticulturist, former coworker, and fellow alumnus of the School of Horticulture, has taught me and my good friend and co-worker Kim, how to make hypertufa alpine troughs. Before we talk about the how, let's touch on the what and the why. The trough is a shallow vessel for growing specialized rock garden plants. Being separate from the larger garden bed, a trough allows the grower to customize the soil and create an environment that does its best to replicate natural conditions for particular species. Alpines are remarkable species native to high-altitude conditions requiring very specific soil and growing conditions to survive and thrive. See, alpines are the little plants that could. Alpine plants survive many challenges with some pretty cool adaptations. They cling precariously to sheer rock despite the vagaries of a windswept cliff. They survive inhuman winters (like this one) without a shiver. How? Go ask Carlo Balistrieri about tight buns. Seriously. Alpine plant morphology is highly specialized. Leaves and stems are reduced into very specific forms enabling them to adapt and survive in harsh conditions: buns (told you), mats, and cushions make it happen. Basically it's a mini plant with HUGELY disproportionate flowers. A big topic for another day. In the meantime, here's an alpine sunflower, Hymenoxis grandiflora, native to the peaks of Colorado: So to grow and display these tenacious gems, the gardeners of yesteryear found a new use for an old thing: the hand-hewn stone watering trough. Left abandoned on old farms and pastures in England, these were the perfect (and very heavy) growing solution for resourceful gardeners. Charming in all the right ways, these containers have been worn, weathered and adorned with lichens and mosses. Finding these originals today is possible, but will require you to either a.) give up your firstborn, or b.) hand over a small fortune, neither of which I have. But HYPERTUFA!! Ahhh, hypertufa. Lightweight, frost-resistant, and a deceptively accurate substitution for those lacking progeny or profit. So when John invited us to come over to get our hands dirty, how could I resist? It was late December when John showed us how to construct forms, proportion a good mix, and how to prepare, pack, and cure a proper trough. John had set up a very functional work space in the basement of the greenhouse; he is a very neat guy, and this is a very messy process. After the work space is ready, make some molds. This is 2" thick insulation board. It's easy to score and cut to whatever dimension you want to make. Longs nails are pushed into the sides, and duct tape is wrapped around the mold for stability. Secure the mold to the table so it doesn't shift while packing in the hypertufa mix. Here is one way of making sure drainage holes are present. John uses PVC piping cut to the thickness he wants the bottom to be. Here's the mix: peat moss, perlite,Portland cement and plastic fibers (last two can be located at a masonry shop). The proportions differ from person to person. Like any recipe, really. To make one "batch" John uses 12 parts peat and perlite, 8 parts cement, and a handful of fluffed fibers. Just as in baking, thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients together before adding any liquid. Add water and liquid acrylic. Use a 1:1 ratio of water to acrylic, then add more water to reach the desired consistency. Think cottage cheese, but a touch drier. Once you have that down, time to pack! Pack in the bottom and corners really well. This stuff has to be very densely packed down, otherwise the integrity of the container can be compromised. And when you are done, it should look like this! My very first hypertufa trough. I was so proud! The walls should be thick; no less than 1.5". So now wrap it in plastic and store it at about 60F for 24 hours. This is the first cure. When you return to the trough, you can unwrap it and "finish" it. Literally, put a finish on it. Scratch it, scrape it, abuse it . . . anything that will add to the weathered worn feel that would otherwise take many long seasons to accomplish. When you have finished, spritz the entire container with water, cover it, and let it sit for one month. This is the second cure. When you return after a month, unwrap it, and allow it to sit uncovered outside. This allows the alkaline and caustic qualities of the cement to dissipate prior to planting. This can take a couple months. That is the final cure. It seems tedious, but once you have a system, it all goes quite smoothly. How will I use what I learned here? Me being me, I cannot just limit this craft of trough-making to the narrow usage of alpine troughs. Traditionally, the hypertufa container is made for growing alpine plants. But I am always looking for ways to give a fresh face to a familiar facet. If you'd like more details, check out this book Creating and Planting Garden Troughs, by Joyce Fingerhut and Rex Murfitt. Essentially the trough bible. In the meantime, my troughs are wrapped and waiting. Stay tuned for photos of the finished results!!!
Ever heard of hypertufa? It is a mix of the following: HYPERTUFA RECIPE Peat moss- 2parts Portland cement - 1 part Sand, vermiculite, or perlite - 1 part Want some great looking pots like these? Here is the link so you can learn how to do this. It is a great way to get pots that look like really old stone without spending the money. Hypertufa Here's another link you might like. There is a lantern on here, that I would like to make. Hypertufa gardening
Portland cement is the desired ingredient for making hypertufa pots, but sometimes it is difficult to decide which of those bags you need. I will help. But after questioning, it seems that the most likely culprit is not starting with the main ingredient of Portland cement. For a great hypertufa project, you need Portland cement. This is the ingredient which "hardens" and forms the trough or container you are making. ( It's really a chemical process of crystallization, but we won't get all technical.)
Making this Hypertufa Millstone took a bit of work, and two batches of my regular hypertufa mix to get enough to fill the mold...
Making a big hypertufa trough is a little harder than the small ones. I made a 2ft by 4ft by 1ft trough. The weight is the a problem. Heavy! Find the place
This post is part of a paid collaboration with Lowe’s Home Improvement. All opinions are my own. We’re keeping the DIY’s coming with one of my new favorite simple + budget-friendly “look for less” projects! I have been dreaming about these gorgeous oversized limestone planters for months, I’m sure you’ve seen them in high end […]
It's easy, it's fun, and you can look like an expert even on your first project! Learn the basics of making your own hypertufa projects.
A guide to uses for hypertufa troughs, as well as the easiest way to make and shape hypertufa for your use in your lawn and garden areas.
Today, I’ll show you how to make just about anything you can imagine with hypertufa using inexpensive materials you can buy from your closest home center. I’ll also show you all of the many ways you can use this versatile material to achieve various different textures and finishes without much effort. What is Hypertufa? Tufa is […]
by Jesse Khong, Hypertufa pots are very popular because of their natural stone appearance, weightlessness and porous quality. Hypertufa is an imitation of natural tufa, a variety of limestone. Mixi…
Make your own hypertufa pots and planters! Hypertufa garden containers can be made with molds or free-form using cement and natural fillers.
A guide to uses for hypertufa troughs, as well as the easiest way to make and shape hypertufa for your use in your lawn and garden areas.
Today, I’ll show you how to make just about anything you can imagine with hypertufa using inexpensive materials you can buy from your closest home center. I’ll also show you all of the many ways you can use this versatile material to achieve various different textures and finishes without much effort. What is Hypertufa? Tufa is […]
If you have been making hypertufa for a while, I am sure you have altered the basic hypertufa recipe to some degree for a particular item you are making, for the conditions you're making it
Today, I’ll show you how to make just about anything you can imagine with hypertufa using inexpensive materials you can buy from your closest home center. I’ll also show you all of the many ways you can use this versatile material to achieve various different textures and finishes without much effort. What is Hypertufa? Tufa is […]
Well, one of my previous video and post was about the Hypertufa Making Marathon that we did a while back. But I have a whole big bunch of hypertufa planters
With this DIY hypertufa planter tutorial you can inexpensively make your very own garden containers out of concrete!
During August, we'd like to hear your opinions on some "unusual" garden containers, like this one. What do you think?
