Thursday, June 19, 2008

Concrete-mania

Still a rainy week. Tomorrow we'll get started indoors on the mudroom. Oh yeah, we still have work to do inside! Duh.

Anyways, I've been having fun with concrete, making plant markers for the garden. Yes, I'm a dork and an obsessive labeler. I got this set over a year ago, thinking I would have tons of time after my dissertation was done - but the kitchen and other projects kind of took over.

We dug it out last weekend along with the bag of concrete that's been sitting there, waiting, in the garage, et voila! concrete plant tags. Mmmm, tomato, garlic, rosemary. And our tomatoes won't have salmonella.


Actually, not quite voila because it took me a while to get the consistency right. It's not like thinset, and it gets wetter as it sits so you really have to mix it fairly dry. But I love them! The whole kit was very easy to use and was inexpensive. Highly recommended. They have it at Lee Valley. I still have a bunch more to make - not that I'm complaining - it's a great stress reliever, like working with clay.

6 comments:

Karen Anne said...

So, I'm thinking, when you do concrete projects, there is always concrete left over, yes? Heavy concrete, with no apparent use, that has to be gotten rid of? This is what has always kept me from attempting walkway stones with decorative stuff in them...

That and not knowing how much water to put in...

sarah said...

Hi Karen Anne - well, I got a very small bag (40 lb is small) and used the whole thing up. Around here, if we have extra stuff we put it at the yard sale or on Freecycle (freecycle.org). Stuff just disappears that way!

Karen Anne said...

I was more thinking about having mixed concrete left over. That's what I can't figure out, how do you know exactly how much you need to mix up?

Jennifer said...

Wow.. those look neat! Yeah for salmonella free tomatoes!

sarah said...

Hi Karen Anne:
The kit for the garden stones said that it took 2 lbs of concrete per marker, so that was helpful to estimate. I mixed about 10 lb (1/4 of my bag) at a time - I bet that would be about right for a stepping stone. It made ~6 or 8 of the garden stones.

Susie said...

OMG - those are too friggin' cute! I can't wait to see it all put together!