mostly making troughs- but some yellow sandersii comments

[Anthony Darby]

Robin Hall (Scottish Folk Singer ) died in 1998, Anthony... as far as I know, Jimmy MacGregor is still very busy, sininging less but walking the hills, making programmes about that and other such stuff!

Ah yes. The wrong way round. I remember my sister getting Jimmy's autograph in the cafe at Queen Street railway station in Glasgow in the 70s.

[gote]

This is perhaps the wrong place to post but Maggi brought up the fish boxes (which I have never seen here in Sweden)

I use wooden boxes. They are very sturdy, easy to lift. last for ever and function well. Of course they do not look more like an antique stone through than a plastic pot looks like an antique urn .
I buy 150*20mm board of impregnated wood. Six pieces 310mm long will make a box with three 3mm slits in the bottom. I use 16 stainless steel screws to keep them together. (24 if I feel magnanimous)
In the bottom, I put a layer of coarse gravel so that drainage works also between the slits.
If someone is interested I could try to post a picture.
Göte   

[David Nicholson]

This is perhaps the wrong place to post but Maggi brought up the fish boxes (which I have never seen here in Sweden)

I use wooden boxes. They are very sturdy, easy to lift. last for ever and function well. Of course they do not look more like an antique stone through than a plastic pot looks like an antique urn .
I buy 150*20mm board of impregnated wood. Six pieces 310mm long will make a box with three 3mm slits in the bottom. I use 16 stainless steel screws to keep them together. (24 if I feel magnanimous)
In the bottom, I put a layer of coarse gravel so that drainage works also between the slits.
If someone is interested I could try to post a picture.
Göte   

Gote, yes, please do post a picture.

[gote]

I hope the picture works! this is my first attempt in the new list I believe.
The cross section of the board can, of course, be varied. I use approximately 150*20mm. The wood should preferably be treated against rotting. I am fortunate since I own some wood working machines so I always plane if there is any risk of splinters but it is usually possible to buy planed wood.
The length of the six pieces should be twice the width plus three times the required slit. On should be generous with the slit if the wood is dry. It swells a lot when wet. If the wood is untreated, one can use nails. However if one has paid for treated wood, only stainless screws last as long as the wood.
I cover the bottom with gravel so the whole surface is drained.
Since the “gables” do not go all the way to the ground, it is easy to get the fingers under and lift.   

[Paddy Tobin]

Certainly a sturdy construction, Gote. It should last many years and, I think, looks as good if not better than the styrofoam fish boxes with the added cement/hypertufa covering. Sometimes if something is to be an artificial item in the garden it is as well to let it be obviously artificial rather than make a poor attempt at imitating nature.

Paddy

[Susan Band]

Gote, I am surprised you can't find our infamous polystyrene fish boxes. The company which produces them has its head office in Sweden. - Sundolitt - Mind you you wooden boxes serve the same purpose but time consuming to make.

[Anthony Darby]

I wouldn't add hypertufa covering to a polystyrene fish box. Five minutes with a blowtorch and it is ready to paint.

[Maggi Young]

it is as well to let it be obviously artificial rather than make a poor attempt at imitating nature.

Come now, Paddy, would you realy want twenty naked fishboxes sitting in your garden? They make great troughs, but some degree of artifice is surely better in that circumstance than using the plain white boxes? I know plenty folks do use 'em plain.... but  it looks really scruffy!  Gote's sturdy box is super, though I wouldn't like to move/carry it far when filled... that is  the real plus point for the poly boxes!

[Paddy Tobin]

Maggi,

I think the fishboxes require great imagination.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

All mine, 17, are covered in hypertufa

Rob you arent the only one with green tinted yellow snowdrops. All My 'Wendy's Gold' and limey green

[Gerard Oud]

There is still a lot of good wood on the coast to build a proper wooden one!

[David Nicholson]

There is still a lot of good wood on the coast to build a proper wooden one!

Loads and loads of it, but surrounded by policemen so you can't get at it.

This is a result of a recent shipwreck off the Devon coast. The ship was loaded with timber and, in a storm, the timber shifted and eventually the ship went down. Much of the timber followed currents and the wind direction and floated Eastwards towards the Dorset coast. See

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7197667.stmast. 

[Maggi Young]

Isn't it interesting that when this ship was wrecked, with a cargo of timber, there are many policemen guarding it to prevent looting but last year when that container ship sank, or lost its cargo, there were no police and we saw pictures on TV of people carrying off motor bikes and washing machines, huge packs of babies' nappies... all sorts !

[Paul T]

Maybe they learnt from last year.  Or more likely the owners of this one learnt from last year and quickly arranged a salvage coverage.

[Gerdk]

Isn't it interesting that when this ship was wrecked, with a cargo of timber, there are many policemen guarding it to prevent looting but last year when that container ship sank, or lost its cargo, there were no police and we saw pictures on TV of people carrying off motor bikes and washing machines, huge packs of babies' nappies... all sorts !

Maggi,
Isn't it nice that the good old Friesian custom of 'Strandräuberei' (shore robbery/wrecking) is still alive?
I thought this was a speciality of the German coastland inhabitants centuries ago 

Gerd