3 Ways to Use Concrete in Your Garden
Concrete can be a little intimidating as a material, especially to novice gardeners and DIY enthusiasts, but it’s an extremely versatile material and you may be surprised at how many different things you can make with concrete. You can buy a large bag inexpensively and you know that your finished items will definitely last!
Always remember to wear gloves and a mask when you’re handling concrete and don’t add too much water at the beginning. If you make sure to add water gradually and mix your concrete thoroughly, you’ll have a smooth usable material for your projects.
Concrete Spheres
These spheres are surprisingly delicate for something made out of concrete and really easy to make. They make fantastic plant pots or even candle holders for late summer nights.
If you remember covering balloons in papier mâché in school, the technique for these spheres will be very familiar. All you need to do is cover your ball in Vaseline and drape concrete-covered material over the ball, letting each layer dry before you add the next. This will take a couple of days to complete since you need to stop in between each layer, but finally you can deflate the ball and use some left-over cement to fill in any small cracks you can see.
You can leave your hollow sphere bare or paint it to match the rest of your garden furniture.
Draped Concrete Plant Pots
Or if you have some old tea towels to throw away, you could turn them into these beautiful draped planters. This project is even easier than the spheres and should only take you around a day or two (depending on your drying times). All you need to do is mix your concrete and soak the towel in it. Then drape it over an old bucket (one you don’t mind getting concrete on) and leave it to dry.
You can even pour concrete into it to make a table if you prefer, or turn them upside down to make unusual plant pots.
Concrete Hands
Unlike the other crafts here, these concrete hands are solid rather than hollow. They’re easily made by filling rubber gloves with concrete and moulding them into the shape you’d like the hands to be (you may need to use string or wire to hold them in place while they dry). Then just cut away the gloves and add your plants.
Images from http://amygreving.blogspot.ca/, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com, http://www.hometalk.com/, and http://infoyoushouldknow.net.
