Beginner Gardening: Before and after Garden pics....., 1 by cici77

cici77 wrote:
ok blooms, now for the concrete form.. the form is made of plastic so its real light weight, i bought it at lowes for $14.95 (the form is re-usable) and the concrete for a 60lb bag is $1.50 at ace... two 60lb bags will make enough for 3 poured forms.. i would buy the 90 lb bags but they are just toooo heavy for me to be lifting.. the 60 lb bags are heavy enough.. i use an empty (duh!) 5 gallon paint bucket to mix the concrete.. the first day i hand mixed it with a gardening shovel and it wore my butt OUT!!!... i thought i was gonna die.. that day i think i poured 3 or 4 forms...my hubby felt bad for me and suggested i use one of his big black tubs for mixing, this way i wouldnt have to go so deep with the gardening shovel into the bucket to hand mix it... and after i lifted the concrete bag out of the car i could just plop it in the big tub and cut the bag open (remove the bage of course) add the water and then mix it by hand.. this would be much simpler for me to do with-out wearing myself out.. but then the next day he gave me one of his drills that has a paddle mixer (for mixing grout or concrete in a bucket) on it.. this makes my life sooooo much easier.. i just put the water in , pour the needed cement and put the drill in , turn it on , and its like a big kitchen mixer... lol.. i make the concrete the consistancy of oatmeal (makes it better to pour out of the bucket into the form) if the bucket ends up full to almost the top i shovel it out into the forms... then once its down to about halfway in the bucket i am able to pick it up and pour the rest into each "pocket" of the form.. u let it set for a minute or two (if u make the concrete too runny by accident , which i have done, let it set up longer.. maybe 5 minutes) pull the form off, and whaaallaaaa, u have the cobblestones.. i usually set the form in the next place i want the cobblestone begin mixing concrete if need be and pour the next one.. as that one is setting up in the form , i go back to the previously poured one and round and smooth the edges of the cobblestone to make it look more like cobblestone... even if that means taking out chunks of the rocks in the concrete that are at the surface that may hurt a bare-footed person walking on it.. then smooth the indentation and it makes it look even more like stone by having smooth pits in it.,. u know what i mean? now u can buy color to add to the concrete to make it different colors.. but i think it would be just as much money to buy the coloring as it would to buy the concrete.. so i took our dirt out here and (after i smoothed and shapped the "stones" ) rubbed it lightly into the top of the wet concrete and on the sides... u will se that in the pic below.. the lighter brown cobblestones are completely dry, the darker brown ones are wet and just done, then after all that i let it set up till the next day , then i bring the broom out bromm the extra loose dirt off and i get my colored cobblestones!!! (: it is quite easy and addicting by the way!!!! and trust me u wont be imitating me, they have these forms out there to have anyone do them.. (: and i am flattered that u like my ideas.. its fun to share with someone who likes it enough to want to do it too..(: and wanda do u not have before and after pics urself???? i would love to see.. i know i have seen ur posts before and ur pics.. werent u just posting lately ur irises??? anyway here are a few pics of the form while i was laying them..(: