Natural looking water basin

12 years ago

I decided to try making my own natural looking water basin since I didn't have any luck finding a real stone that would work. I read on here how someone dug a hole in the ground to make natural looking stones out of hypertufa so I thought that would be my best option. I dug out the shape I wanted and made a mix using one bag of peat moss, one bag cement, four bags of perlite and four charcoal coloring bottles. I lucked out and made the exact amount I needed lol. I actually thought it was going to make way too much so I had three side projects set aside just in case but it used every last drop. Then I let it dry for a couple weeks and dug it out. It came out pretty close to the shape I had drawn up. One cool thing I didn't plan on was that some of the loose clay/dirt mixed with my hypertufa mix giving it an even more natural look. Now I just hope I can get some moss to grow on it in the spring.

This post was edited by rufretic on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 20:29

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Comments (5)

billie_ann
12 years ago
What were the size/weights of the bags? When I hear "bag" I think of how I buy cement and that's in 94 lb. bags. No sand? Did you pat and smooth the interior to bring the "cream" to the surface so the water basin will hold water better? I use a hole dug in my garden to make free form planters.
The basin looks great and if it's in the shade it will grow moss pretty fast.
rufretic
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks. Yeah that's right about the cement, (1) 94lb bag cement, (1) 3 cu/ft bag peat moss and (4) 8 quart bags of perlite. It's pretty big, that large bamboo is about 5 inch to give you an idea. I also had a bag of sand to use but ran out of room in my mixing kiddy pool lol. I have no idea how this mix is going to work, I pretty much just threw it together in a hurry and hoped for the best. It was the last day I had to do it before winter and I didn't want to wait until spring. I'm not too worried about it holding water long term because it is made to go with the deer scare which will be slowly overflowing it with water.
In the spring I might try another one with sand and colorful gravel I also had for this one originally. I guess I'll just have to see how this one holds up.
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tigerseye412
12 years ago
i have just joined this site, i have been making smaller stuff just using a 50/50 mix of sand and concrete, i am so glad i found this place as i have a lot of learning to do,
tigerseye412
12 years ago
i have just joined this site, i have been making smaller stuff just using a 50/50 mix of sand and concrete, i am so glad i found this place as i have a lot of learning to do,
billie_ann
12 years ago
Tigerseye, your planter is very nice. Like the top edge detail.
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