Displaying posts categorized under

Garden

Garden Railway Construction

I got permission from the boss to build a garden railway in our backyard largely because I am going to put it in the previously uncivilized portion of the yard. So, step one is to civilize the wild parts. A couple of years ago, I began an ivy eradication project. There must have been 1,000 […]

Weekend Project

This Memorial Day weekend, I did a small, non-train project. I made a planter box plus an old bed headboard that we had on hand. It went pretty well, in spite of the fact I had no plan. (I should have had a plan.) Here is the basic box-planter. This was built with less than […]

Hypertufa

Hypertufa is a method of using cement to create light yet strong rock-like castings or scenery. I plan on using a lot of artificial rock scenery in my railroad instead of moving literally tons of rock and earth. The mixture is simple to make. Here’s my take on a recipe: Hypertufa: 1 part patching cement, […]

Alberta Spruce Bonsai

I found small Dwarf Alberta Spruce cheap at Lowes. I used bonsai-like pruning techniques to make the shrub-like spruce look more like a scale model of a full-size mature tree for eventual planting in my garden railway. Exposing the main trunk and reducing the foliage density accomplishes that. Here is before pruning on the right and […]