Sun Garden – Garden Solar Lights

Gardening in the full sun can be challenging as well be high maintenance. Tanya shows how to deal with this problem as she revamps a neglected front garden into welcoming area of a home. She uses tough sun loving plants that require very little maintenance and then complete the make over by adding solar lights to light up the garden after sunset.

What you need

  • 2 Plastic bowls of the same size
  • 1 Solar cobble
  • Releasing agent (cooking oil, olive oil or any oil will do)
  • 1 part river sand
  • 1 part 13mm building stone
  • 1 part cement
  • Rubber mallet
  • A small paintbrush
  • A trowel
  • A float

What to do

  1. Use the releasing agent to coat the two plastics bowls as well as the lighting panel of the solar cobble.
  2. Place the cobble in the centre of one the bowls
  3. Mix 1part river sand, 1part 13mm building stone and 1 part cement with enough water to form a concrete mixture of yoghurt like consistency. (Remember to mix the dry materials together first before adding water)
  4. Hold the solar cobble in place, pour in the concrete mixture until you are confident the cobble won’t move then continue to fill up the bowl then use a trowel to agitate the mixture. Tap the bowl lightly with a rubber mallet to remove any air bubble trapped inside the mixture and then finally smooth down the top with a steel trowel/float.
  5. Then proceed to fill the other bowl with the concrete mixture (the one without the cobble) to the top, remember to agitate the mixture with trowel, tap lightly with rubber mallet and a then smooth it down with a steel trowel/ float.
  6. Leave the moulds to dry for 2 days or longer if needed
  7. Once dry, simply remove the solar lights from the plastic bowls and get ready to assemble it.
  8.  Mix a little bit of cement powder with water to form a slurry mix, the use a trowel to spread the mixture on top of the bottom part of the light (the half that does not have a solar cobble). Then place other half of the light (with solar cobble) and place it on top of the other one.

DIY Video




 

 

 

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