William Bronson

One more thing.
If you can find a stainless steel table for sale, you can invert it and remove the legs.
It will have some kind of rim all the way around, thus forming a wide flat shower pan.
I see them for about 100$ used , if they are dinged up.

Is cement acceptable?
Before plastic liners, I believe a thick mortar base was used under tile floors.
You could build such a base,tile it and waterproof it with a water glass based sealer.

I think you also could form an all concrete shower pan and waterproof it with a water glass based sealer.

I've been able to create a waterproof finish over a wood countertop with hydraulic cement.
I stapled window screen to the wood, then applied the cement..
This is akin to stucco, flying concrete or ferrocement, but ultimately it is none of these.


I have used this as the counter around my sink for years now, with no signs of decay.

If cement is not ok, what about silicone?
It's rather neutral and can even be found in food safe varieties.
It could be used to seal a tile shower floor, or even a cedar floor.

If there is a waterproof varnish that meets with your natural criteria, cedar dog-eared fence pickets are rather cheap.

It would be an odd choice, but largish  mirrors and glass can be found for pretty cheap or even free.
To avoid drilling the glass, install it with a tiny slope,make curbs around it in another material and put the drain in the downslope curb.

PVC is the cheapest drain material, but it is plastic.
For your drain, stainless steel, or copper are all costly.
Chrome plated brass, preferably 1 1/2" , should be pretty affordable, and from there you can transition to cast iron.

Yeah, these beds were in various states of being finished, and like most of my projects they still are!

I grew some nice greens in them,but when it was time for a reset, I decided the hardware cloth was too valuable to be used  as a raised bed.
Now, I use theses as cages on top of half barrels.

Rather than putting a nicer finish the taller bed, I've used aty place for a variety of things.
I built Mom a much nicer bed, one that is cranking out greens.
It still uses bike times, but in a different role.

I still mess with these ideas and materials.
For example, recently I looked into using pop rivets for a nice strong connection and no pointy screw ends.
At the lengths and diameters available, they just won't work for me, but it has me considering nails of all things.

I don't use nails, pretty much ever.
My lack of coordination leads to bad joints, ugly joints and sore thumbs.
But my goodness they are cheap, they require no electricity and they can be bent over when they are too long, something screws can't really do.
So they might be right for this application.

If I first assemble a wood/ bike rim bed using screws, I can get them together pretty fast and  easily, but the screws are expensive, and they have pointy bits that need to be cut off.
If I replace each screw , one by one, with a nail, I can drive them in an existing hole and then hammer the end of the nail over.
I think this would lead to a better, cheaper and stronger item.


I say item, because I want to think of these things as multi use.
I think they could be good for storing wood for charcoal making, but maybe also good as bench, a garden bed or whatever else a sturdy wood/ metal basket might be good for.

While it's debatable how useful it would be, I suspect mint would do fine in a dry hot place, even without much sun.
Rosemary and oregano might do ok, if not thrive.
I'm growing Horseradish directly under a pine tree and it seems to be doing fine, but we have sooo much rain, I can't account for it being drought resistant.

tuffy monteverdi wrote:

William Bronson wrote:, because she has rodent and deer pressure.

Interesting!
But how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?
Actually deer could likely fit their muzzles in there too.. 🤔

I add chicken wire or hardware cloth to a wheel, then use it as a lid.

I think there are good suggestions here.
I would only add that building a boiler shed with good insulation and lots of shelving could also boost your efficiency.
The hot air trapped around the firebox and  riser will be insulative, and the shelves can be loaded with fuel, which will burn better because it will be dryer.

I like to plant berries by the street to feed passers by and I love raised beds.
A raised bed with concrete block walls, about 2 courses high, capped with pavers, would nice to sit on while you worked the bed.
Jostaberries are a nice substitute for gooseberries.
They produce well for me in our hot humid summers and they don't have thorns.
We get plenty of rain and min our planted in a sun irrigated planter, but I think they would do fine with less rain, as long as the soil has water holding capacity.
They propagate very easily, just stick your prunings in some potting soil.
I use the space under the bush for pots with cuttings, which suppresses weeds,
Watering the cuttings and the mother bush at the same time is very efficient.

Connie Graham wrote:A follow-up question for those who have used rebar instead of stakes as discussed further up this post... Like I said I used 10 mm wide bar already in a spot where it's just doing minimal support and it was fine for that but hammering it in I could tell it as going to bend if there was too much resistance (stone in the ground) or if a lot of weight was pushing up against it. In your experience, what thickness of rebar offers the right amount of rigidity for building terraces? I don't want to overdo the thickness because of cost (materials as soooo expensive these days) and also all the saw blades I'll get through cutting it up into short lengths. Thanks for sharing any experiences you've had!

Your 10mm is the equivalent to our 3/8", and yes , it is  fairly bendable.

I think the 1/2" or 13 mm( ?) rebar would suffice against the forces you will be dealing with.
You might already know this but you might be able to save your sawblades by cutting 1/3rd or half way through, then breaking that section off by bending it back and forth.
Whatever you do, please cover the upward pointy bits in someway to prevent accidental impalement.

I won't be planting it , but I will probably try bagging the heads on mature specimensinstead of chopping them down.

I hear you, daikon is great, but burdock grows where they can't.
I often find my daikons growing mostly on the surface , with only a short root