Concrete Projects and This Year's Container Gardening

I pinned a picture of a concrete bowl full of succulents years ago and then on our California trip a few weeks ago remembered it was a project I wanted to try. So I read some tutorials online, bought a bag of concrete from Home Depot and some bowls from the dollar store and went to work last weekend.

I broke my first bowl almost immediately because I didn't let it cure, but it wasn't that good to begin with. The second one, I allowed to cure in a garbage bag for almost a week. It was a major exercise in patience. I also broke a vase right away too. Turns out the molds are a lot easier to remove once the piece is dry, instead of trying (unsuccessfully) to pry it out while the whole thing is wet. The great part here is concrete is dirt cheap and easy to experiment with.

So that's what I ended up with, using the bowl in the picture below and another bowl inside of it (not pictured). The waterbottle was the inside mold of my broken vase project.

And here's my little succulent garden. I'm really, really hoping I can keep it alive, because succulents aren't exactly cheap. Also, I love how it came together and would like to enjoy it all summer.

I'm looking forward to continuing to refine my concrete skills. For the successful bowl, I removed all the rocks from the concrete using a strainer, so it was easier to mold. I'll be doing that in the future, and I'm also going to see if there's a rock-less premade mix. I'm betting there is. 

Here's part of this year's container gardens, featuring celosia, ageratum and a sweet potato vine (and my all-time favorite pot I've ever bought, the blue-willow-style one).

Lastly, I couldn't not share this sunset over my new lagoon pool. And check out our craigslisted offset umbrella!