If you're looking for a creative addition to your garden, something you can make yourself, is long lasting, durable, and easy .... you may be interested in Hypertufa.
Hyper what?
Hypertufa is a type of man made rock, meant to resemble tufa rock... a porous precipitated limestone rock.... favorable for growing plants in. It is easy to make, strong like concrete, but light weight and doesn't crack under extreme temperatures.
Hypertufa is a mixture of portland cement, peat moss, and perlite.... add some water, and you are ready to mold.
But what do you use for a mold?? Look around, anything from cardboard boxes to old plant pots, to tiles, plates and tupperware can be used as molds. Many of these items need to be lined with plastic so that the mix doesn't adhere to the surface once it's dried. I use trash bags and shopping bags.
Portland Cement
Peat
Perlite
Wheel Barrow (plastic)
Shovel
Hose
Molds
Plastic for lining
Large trash bags for storing
Rubber Gloves
Goggles
Mix 2 parts of the cement to 3 parts peat and perlite each. I used a plastic milk gallon jug, cut open the top and mixed 2 gallons of cement to 3 gallons of perlite and peat each.
Slowly add water, mixing with your gloved hands as you go, until you have a consistency of oatmeal. When squeezed, water should lightly drip between your fingers. Make sure the mixture is thorough.
Line your mold with the plastic bags or trash bags and start pressing in the hypertufa, about 2 inches thick. Build up the sides and keep going until you have a solid bowl shaped into the mold as shown below.... When you get to the top edges, take care to keep them even, shaping them with your thumbs as you work to keep a nice thick, flat edge.
You'll have a lot of mix if you followed the amounts listed above, you'll use a lot of molds, and still have more, so you can shape some into rock forms, or flatten them over tiles or other similar shapes to make stepping stones. Another popular thing to do is spread it thin over a large leaf, like an elephant ear, for a garden decoration.
Once all of your hypertufa is molded, it is ready to cure.
Place each piece carefully into a plastic trash bag. The longer you allow the curing process, the better qaulity your tufa will be .... so be patient!!!
Set them into a shady cool place, like under a porch or in a shed, they need 2-3 days for the initial curing process. For the first day or two when you check it, the tufa will still be soft and easily scratched with your nails.... once it is hard enough to be scratched with a screwdriver, (usually 3 days) it is ready to unmold.
Carefully unmold each piece, pulling the plastic liners away from your tufa.
Again, they will need to cure, this time for at least 3 weeks. Set them aside, away from sun and heat and leave them be.
Once cured, they will need to be leached of any chemicals. Set them outside, hosing them down each day, or left in the rain....some people leave them outside all winter long to naturally leach and are ready to use them the following spring.
Your results will be a super tough potting dish that will be able to withstand almost any weather conditions thrown its way!
As you work more and more with tufa, you can become more creative, doing larger projects, adding cement coloring, and more.
Below is a little videa that shows more detail and just how easy making hypertufa can be!
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