If I were to purchase a large panel of the blue styrofoam (or pink)- would it be possible for me to cut several "bricks" from one piece making a multi-brick mold from only one piece of styrofoam? (as opposed to cutting the styrofoam into smaller sections and using them to create the brick molds individually) I am invisioning.. a sheet of plywood set up in our garage with a sheet of thick plastic covering it, then setting the styrofoam panel on top, lining the exposed cuts with something (tape as mentioned above?) and the spreading my hypertufa mixture in all the various holes. I am guessing there would be 2-3 inches between each specific hole allowing adaquate support to prevent a breakthrough. I am hoping I could then mass produce the hypertufa bricks. Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? If this won't work any suggestions for mass producing bricks with minimal effort? Thanks, bluejean in ohio

I was thinking about the ratz aspect :) I used to work with the manager at that Lordco, unfortunately he wasn't there when I went in, he is very accomodating of odd requests, I did also think "Well if you're getting the other from Target, what's the problem???????" I'm going to give him a call...I know the first response - "What on earth are you up to now??!!" (he got me hard to find here stuff for my ultralight :)) I know I only *need* the basics, but the *want* list has me very intrigued - a lust for aggregate colour I suppose :) I don't use a riddle, but I do use a plastic colander,I use it for the sand, perlite and peat to get all a fine texture, altho I think the next pot will have the coarse perlite. So far I've raided the kitchen for the colander, measuring cups and spoons, likely cooking pans, from the garden I've raided the perlite, peat, and leaves :) What's the advantage of powdered plasticizer? I've found the liquid I got to be quite interesting, a little bit of mental gymnastics to figure how much to use tho :)

Nice trough w. spiral! Yes, I've made lots of similar things in all kinds of molds and am happy with them. The smallest I've ever made is round and about a foot across. I've done some quite big ones using my biggest trug as a mold and it is great but permanent as it's too heavy to lug around! The advantage of the grout spread over syrafoam is that it is very light and also the grout goes on thin. So if I cover, say, a small sytrafoam container (like 4 by 6 inches and about 4 inches deep) it isn't clunky looking. It also appears to dry withing 24 hours so I can whip these things out for farmer's mk. containers for little plants. So my thinking is it will allow me to make v. small containers - which I think would look odd w. regular hypertufa. And I think the idea of covering the big styrafoam boxes is that they are, of course, very light. I'm not looking to abandon the traditional method, because it's worked really well for me using forms. But I am interested if I can make a really light trough in this manner on a big box. I'll see how the small ones hold up! The hosta leaf I did in in grout material is lovely and v. fine in texture vs. the larger one I did w. hypertufa. I like them both...they are quite different. But I am completely new to the leaf thing! Thanks again for all input. Much appreciated! Deborah

Chandra, I don't know that I'd trust that lady bug thing from the Farmer's Almanac. I've had lady bugs for 3 or 4 weeks now and had frost just a few days ago! Jhart, I agree with the others on Sprite, Lime Green Salad, Garden Peach and Paul Robeson. Of those 4, Paul Robeson has gottest the tallest--about 4 feet but it just doesn't like me and tends to die before producing ripe fruit. I don't know why. Maybe it is my soil. Baker Family Heirloom is very large and should grow in the ground. Razzleberry is a determinate that gets about 4 or 4.5' tall so it could be grown in a large-ish container. By large-ish I mean at least 7-10 gallons. Winsall did not get as large in my garden as I expected an Indeterminate to grow, but I grew it in a year when we had extreme drought like this year and the other year when I grew it we had excessively heavy rain and all my tomato plants sat in really wet soil for too long and stalled and stunted. I haven't grown it in a 'normal weather year' because I don't think we have those kinds of years here. For me, Indian Stripe grows like Cherokee Purple--taller than your average determinate but not a huge indeterminate. I usually grow it in the ground, but I've grown it in 20-gallon containers and it did just fine. I grew Lillian's Yellow in a year we had exceptional drought (the most severe form of drought) and it only got 3 or 4' tall, but I think it would have gotten taller in good moisture. Yellow Brandywine is a huge monster so I'd only put it in the ground. Rio Grande is a determinate but I would put it in the ground. It grows very vigorously (wide! thick! full!) and puts out a huge load of fruit. Because paste tomatoes like Rio Grande are prone to blossom end rot, and because moisture is hard to control in containers, and because uneven moisture contributes to blossom end rot, I'd put it in the ground. Hope that helps. Y'all. Unless you are going to water like a maniac or are in one of the far NE OK counties that has had plentiful rainfall, expect smaller than usual plants in this year's drought conditions. That will allow you to space them a bit closer than usual (as long as you're NOT using overhead watering) and to grow some Ind. in containers because in these conditions they won't get really huge. Please realize that if we are already in Extreme drought now (as any of you are), the next step "up" is to Exceptional Drought. I find it hard to water enough to keep a garden going in exceptional drought conditions. There's only so much water any of us can afford to pour onto the dry ground. In these conditions, water well early (in April and in May) in an effort to get your plants to grow well and set fruit. However, once fruit are sizing up nicely, you need to be very careful not to water excessively or your fruit will have bland flavor. It is a delicate balancing act. Dawn