DIY Mosaic Pots with Ceramic Tiles - Sealing the Tile Grout

(This is the continuation of Part 3)

When the tile grout has dried, the mosaic looks really good. The grout looks a bit chalky though and doesn't blend well with the rest of the glossy mosaic tiles. Not only that, the tile grout powder sometimes has the tendency to stick to your fingers when handling the pot.

And this is where you need to seal the grout with a tile grout sealer. The tile grout sealer penetrates the grout, fills and seals it. It leaves a waterproof surface with a shiny finish.

Sealing the Tile Grout

1. The tile grout sealer is liquid and there's nothing to mix. However, do shake the tile grout sealer well. Spray some of the sealer on the mosaic garden pot. After spraying, spread the liquid around on the tile grout rather than on the tiles with your fingers. You may also use a small paint brush to apply the sealer on the grout.
   
   
   

DIY Mosaic Pots with Ceramic Tiles - Applying the Tile Grout

(This is the continuation of Part 2)

This may, arguably, be the fun part of the DIY Mosaic Garden Pot project, if not the dirtiest part. In this stage, you'll be working on filling in the spaces in between tiles of the mosaic and further securing them to the pot. Other than black, there are other available tile grout colors like gray and white. In a way, tile grouting gives a touch of color syle to the finished mosaic pot.

Applying the Tile Grout

1. Before you add the tile grout, it is best to feel if there is tile adhesive that sticks out with the tiles. This is tile adhesive that may have been pushed out from beneath the tile pieces and dried. If so, use an old screwdriver to scrape off this excess tile adhesive.
   
   Ideally, there should be some space between the tiles for the grout to fill. Edges and points of broken tiles can be extremely sharp so wear garden gloves to protect your hands from injury.
   
   
   

DIY Mosaic Pots with Ceramic Tiles - Applying the Tiles

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

After the initial preparations on the pot and tiles, is the part where you will be filling in the design with the tiles. You will need tile adhesive for attaching the tiles to the garden pot.

In some other countries, this is sometimes called thinset tile mortar. Tile adhesive is cheap and is often bought by the bag. It and can be economical when making a number of mosaic garden pots at a time.

Applying the Tiles

1. Put tile adhesive in a disposable plastic bowl with water. Be sure to follow the mixing ratio as instructed in the package label of the tile adhesive. Wear a protective face mask to avoid breathing the tile adhesive powder.
   
   
   

DIY Mosaic Pots with Ceramic Tiles

I've had initial success with mosaic pots and decided to make another one using some new techniques. I've stored away leftover tile grout and tile grout sealer and was unsure if they were still good enough. I did pack them really well and placed them in a dry and dark storage.

So now, which is a few years later, I decided to make another mosaic garden pot but with a different design. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the tile grout and sealer were still good!

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles - Part 6

(This is the continuation of Part 5)

Completed Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles

Finally, here is the completed product with the new tile grout color. Notice the black grouting inside the garden clay pot. The inside grout is only 3 to 4 inches deep. The rest of the inside of the pot (up to the bottom) is untreated.

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles - Part 5

(This is the continuation of Part 4)

If you don't like the color of the grout used in the mosaic garden pot, you could still change it, provided the grout has not yet been sealed with a grout sealer or any other sealant.

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles - Part 4

(This is the continuation of Part 3)

Initially, our son's idea was to use cement or mortar for binding the tiles together to the garden clay pot. This may have been the instruction from the teacher. For this reason, we chose a gray-colored tile grout. Tile grout is cheap and usually comes in 2 kilo bags.

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles - Part 3

(This is the continuation of Part 2)

4. The smaller the size of the broken pieces, the more number of pieces you will be gluing to the garden clay pot. But the bigger the size of the piece, the more uneven the mosaic surface will become.
   

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles - Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

4. Tile Grout
   
   As mentioned before, a contrasting color between tile and grout would be attractive. In general, most ceramic tiles are light colored. So a black colored grout would fit most needs. It just so happened that my son's instruction was to use cement and cement is gray colored. That's the reason we initially chose gray.
   

Mosaic Flower Pot Using Broken Ceramic Tiles

This Mosaic Flower Pot project was actually borne out of a class assignment that my son had in school. The class assignment was to come up with a mosaic project using broken tiles.

The base for the mosaic was really optional, but it seemed all the students chose the terracotta or garden clay pot as the base to mount the mosaic design.

So I helped my son start off with the Mosaic Flower Pot project by choosing the tiles and then helping him work on the application of sealant and grout until the mosaic flower pot was completed.

Adding Soil to a Plumbago in a Garden Pot - Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

2. Position the garden pot over the bin with the new soil. Hold the base of the plant with one hand and try to loosen the compacted soil while holding the trunk and lower branches. Pull the plant upward with a tug as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   

Adding Soil to a Plumbago in a Garden Pot

More than two years ago, I wrote an article detailing how I secured a garden pot to a metal post in our garden. It is a plastic rectangular pot that has a Plumbago auriculata.

That was more than two years ago. The garden pot has faded and has weathered the elements. The Plumbago plant has matured and its branches has thickened considerably..

Repair a Rotted Built-in Bamboo Container Trellis - Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

Here is the procedure to repair a rotted bamboo trellis by removing the damaged parts and then replacing them with steel rods.

Repair a Rotted Built-In Bamboo Container Trellis

After over four years, the built-in bamboo trellis in a container that I built has shown signs of deterioration and damage. I wasn't surprised at which part of the bamboo trellis where the damage had occured. This is the part which gets wet and stays wet often - that part of the trellis that is staked in the pot's soil.

Gynura Procumbens in Garden Pots at the Front Fence - Part 2

(This is the continuation from Part 1)

4. Remove dried up leaves stuck among the foliage. Feel and tug on some of the branches that are still attached on the grilles. Look for brittle and unusually soft ones. Cut and remove all branches and twigs that have rotted or dried up. Now is the opportune time to really clean up the vine on the fence grilles.
   
   
5. When all the identified branches and foliage have been cut, clean the concrete ledge from dust and debris. Use a scrubbing pad, detergent powder and water to scrub away the dirt that accumulated over the years.
   

Gynura Procumbens in Garden Pots at the Front Fence

In a recent article, I wrote how I kept flowering vines tidy on one side (inside) of the front fence and have most of the foliage, including flowers, cascade on the other side (outside).

In this article, I'll discuss how keeping the inside clean and tidy allowed me to affix garden wall pots. And to these pots, I planted a medicinal vegetable/herb called Gynura procumbens or Longevity Spinach.

Secure a Garden Pot to a Metal Post

When our garden gate arch was constructed, I thought of having plants in garden pots on top of the concrete posts. The metal posts of the arch would help stabilize the garden pots.

Actually, we used to have a hodgepodge of tiny pots, plastic and ceramic, on top of the concrete post before. But because of their small size, and since there wasn't anything to tie them down, they were vulnerable to tipping and falling.

Not a few strong winds have toppled these small pots. A few times, someone passing through the gate with an errant open umbrella would do the same thing. These have resulted in broken pots and uprooted plants.

Improvised Garden Pot Using a Carboy

For a long time, I've been searching for a rectangular garden pot that would be appropriate near the wall of our driveway. The driveway surface is mostly pebble-washed concrete and we don't have a plant box near the wall.

Why rectangular? Well because the pot will be located just beside the wall so having the pot abut the driveway wall would be nice. I have a tall trellis mounted on the wall so the pot will be semi-permanently positioned there. Since the wall trellis is quite large, I'm expecting a robust vine to climb over it. For a large vine, I would definitely need a big pot.

Homemade Garden Pot Cover for Rains

In a previous article, I discussed a simple homemade solution to prevent rains from overwatering your potted outdoor garden plants. Not all plants are created equal, and some, like the Mandevillas cannot tolerate continuous daily rains. The homemade solution in the article made use of an old dining table placemat for an effective garden pot cover.

If you don't have an old placemat or something similar, there's another way of making a garden pot cover.

Here's how you can make use of disposable plastic trays that are found in supermarkets and bakeshops. The procedure is essentially the same as discussed before but with a few modifications.

Prevent Overwatering - Garden Pot Cover

Many flowering plants benefit from plenty of sunshine like the Red Mandevillas shown on the left. So it's sensible to locate them outside even if they're planted in garden pots. Having them outside though poses some problems when the rainy season comes.

Mandevillas simply hate being overwatered. Mandevillas have tuberous roots that already store water, and therefore watering needs to be done sparingly. I learned this the hard way way when one of my Pink Mandevillas died after receiving daily rains for five days.