Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: mark smyth on August 28, 2015, 03:13:20 PM

Title: new out door plunge
Post by: mark smyth on August 28, 2015, 03:13:20 PM
Something exciting happed while I was away in England.

A 3m x 90cm plunge that will hold 96 15cm pots or 133 13cm pots. That's a lot of potting!

Paint it? Plaster it? Coping stone or not?

I used to have bread baskets along there which held loads of pots
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: Graeme on August 28, 2015, 06:49:12 PM
Mark

It looks like it has been built out of standard blocks which are used and then plaster boarded or rendered

You probibly could have done with 'paint quiality' blocks which are about 10p more each - they have a much finer finish - if you see them in packs they usually have a PQ sprayed on one of them after the refence numbers - these are designed to be painted a lot easier

The ones I have built have still not been painted and have been up between 10-15 years I have intended paining them but just not got round to it

if you are painting them I would start by doing 50/50 water an PVA a couple of times 

ours are 13' long x 1m wide built into a bank side - I need to get some covers on them at some stage but they are full of box at the moment
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: mark smyth on August 28, 2015, 11:42:57 PM
Probable get it plastered before winter comes
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: t00lie on August 29, 2015, 12:37:28 AM

A 3m x 90cm plunge that will hold 96 15cm pots or 133 13cm pots. That's a lot of potting!

Or 1 large trough Mark =  no potting !  :D
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: Lesley Cox on August 29, 2015, 01:12:25 AM
I'm with Dave there Mark. Have you thought of a sand bed? Even in shade, a sand bed can be a great home for precious things. :)
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: Maggi Young on August 29, 2015, 02:07:33 PM
Ha ha!  t00lie and Lesley - that's what I said to Mark -was he going to  plant it as a bed!  That's three votes for that already!
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: mark smyth on August 29, 2015, 06:57:40 PM
Have you thought of a sand bed? Even in shade, a sand bed can be a great home for precious things. :)

Yeah but how could I lift my precious bulbs to photograph them? Is there enough food in sand?

I did think of these http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets (http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets) No problem with roots escaping out of those holes!
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: Neil on August 30, 2015, 07:49:15 AM
If you want mesh pots try ebay
http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=mesh+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xmesh+pot&sqp=mesh+pot (http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=mesh+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xmesh+pot&sqp=mesh+pot)

http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=Net+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xnet+pot&sqp=net+pot (http://ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=Net+pot&isNewKw=1&mfs=GOCLK&acimp=0&_trksid=undefined.TR3.TRC1.Xnet+pot&sqp=net+pot)
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: mark smyth on September 01, 2015, 04:31:21 PM
and now I'm thinking an edging tile might be OK
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: Graeme on September 01, 2015, 07:43:13 PM
and now I'm thinking an edging tile might be OK

4" X 2" pressure treated wood?  those blocks will be 100mm wide (4") or just slightly less

cut to size - silicon on
Title: Re: new out door plunge
Post by: annew on September 02, 2015, 10:18:42 AM
Yeah but how could I lift my precious bulbs to photograph them? Is there enough food in sand?

I did think of these http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets (http://www.orchidsupplies.co.uk/black-octagonal-orchid-baskets) No problem with roots escaping out of those holes!
No problem with growing in sand, but I wouldn't recommend lifting baskets in growth, the roots grow out well into the sand (that's the whole point!) and would be damaged. Other people have used a small 3-sided backdrop to enclose the plunged plants for photographing in situ.
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