If you don't have the right rocks for your garden path, you can make your own steppingstones, as Willard Scott, host of HGTV's Willard Scott's Almanac, learned from his neighbor Carole Ottesen, a landscape designer. Steppingstones can be made of any size and are useful to keep feet from treading on plants in the garden. Here's how to make one using an old nursery pot for a form. Materials:
5-gallon plastic nursery pot
Cement mix
Wheelbarrow or large bucket
Hardware cloth or window screen
Sand
Plastic sheeting
Modeling clay
- If the inside bottom of the container has an uneven surface, line it with sand. Then line the sand-filled pot with a layer of plastic sheeting to keep the steppingstone clean.
- If desired, make a design by rolling clay into small balls or strips and placing the clay directly on top of the plastic lining.
- Mix the cement in a wheelbarrow or large bucket, according to package instructions. Pour about 1 1/2" of cement into the bottom of the pot.
- Lay a piece of hardware cloth or window screen over the surface of the cement to reinforce it.
- Cover the cloth with a little more cement, and let the steppingstone harden inside the form for a day.
- Remove the steppingstone from the form, and pick out the modeling clay. Repeat the process to make as many stones as you need.
Concrete Garden Balls Carole wasn't happy with the garden ornaments available commercially, feeling they were too sentimental or gaudy. Instead, she wanted a plain concrete ball. And whenever she gets her hands on something round that will hold cement, she makes another ball for her garden. An old basketball with a hole cut in the top provides the perfect form for this project, but Carole has also tried to make concrete balls from children's large inflatable beach toys. Through trial and error Carole discovered that it's best to place small pieces of hardware cloth or window screen inside the form to reinforce the ball and make up for any errors in mixing the concrete.
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