Unfortunately, genuine stone troughs and sinks are increasingly difficult and expensive to come by. The stone sinks in the kitchens and sculleries of Victorian houses and farms were replaced long ago by the more hygienic glazed ones, while the larger drinking troughs used by cattle and horses have given way to galvanised iron tanks. The occasional stone trough or sink sometime turns up at country auctions, but dealers know their value and scarcity, and an astronomical price will probably be asked for them. There have recently been a few advertisements in ‘The Alpine Gardener’ offering genuine stone troughs and sinks for sale, and a search on the internet will come up with a number of positive results. So even though they are scarce, it is still possible, with a little diligent searching, to acquire the real thing. The prices can range from a few hundred pounds for a small shallow sink, to well over a thousand pounds for a larger, deeper horse trough.

The first three pictures shown on this page, (above) are of genuine stone troughs at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, photographed in 1986, showing how appealing a group of troughs can be on a paved area, where some of the paving has been removed to allow for the planting of dwarf shrubs and alpines. The same pleasing results can be achieved by using reproduction or self-made troughs which will cost considerably less that the genuine article.

This is as follows:
vSand – 5 parts.
vCement – 2 parts.
vPeat – 3 parts.

The white enamel glazed sink, (sometimes referred to as a Belfast sink), which has been replaced by more modern stainless steel and ceramic sinks, are themselves now becoming scarcer. In the 1970s and early 80s these were relatively easy to get. I would ask friends and relatives who were, or had connections with builders and plumbers to keep a look-out when they knew of any older property being renovated or demolished. I soon had more offers of sinks than I could cope with; I would do three at a time, and soon my small patio finished up with 15 hypertufa troughs. Although they are not as easy to come by today you can still see them full of weeds in the front garden on some housing estates. There are still some older terraced houses being knocked down that may have a white enamel glazed sink in the kitchen. Ask the builder to let you know if he comes across one, knock on the door of the house and ask if you may purchase the sink in the front garden that is full of weeds.

OK!…So let us assume that you now have your first glazed sink and are about to cover it with hypertufa! The first thing to do is to thoroughly clean it of any greasy dirt and grime, use a scourer or sharp sand with the cleansing agent to cut through the stubborn grime. Allow to dry and then apply a bonding adhesive to the glaze. Polybond, Unibond and Marleybond are just three of the many PVA bonding adhesives that are available from DIY stores and builders merchants.
Allow the adhesive to become slightly tacky before applying the damp (not wet!) hypertufa mix, this should be of a consistency that wont fall off when applied to the sides of the trough. If the mix is to wet, gravity will pull the excess water in the mix towards the ground taking much of the mix with it. This wont perhaps be noticeable straight away, but if you return a few hours later and find most of the mix has slithered off, the mix is to wet. Remember to apply the mix over and down the inside edge about 6 centimetres and also a little under the outside base so that no white glaze can be seen when the sink, (or should we now start to call it a trough?) is completed and filled with compost and plants.
Once the covering of hypertufa has dried out a little and before it begins to harden it can be made to look like a realistic stone trough by using a piece of shaped wood, an old metal chisel or something similar to create a finish much like genuine article. Get your inspiration from a real stone trough or from photographs. Finally, finish of by giving the whole surface a good ‘going over’ with a soft brush, this will achieve a weathered look by rounding off any sharp edges and corners. To give it an aged appearance and encourage lichen, moss and algae, spray or paint on a liquid fertiliser or milk. After a couple of seasons your hypertufa trough will be difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

Our trough will need at least one drainage hole, with a diameter of not less than 3cm. Place a few pieces of broken clay flowerpot or perforated zinc over each drainage hole. Next, cover the bottom of the trough with about 3 cm of coarse drainage material: gravel, broken pots, stone chips or something similar. (If you have a very shallow trough you can perhaps dispense with the drainage material if you have open well-drained compost.) Over the coarse drainage material, place about 3 cm of coarse bark chips, coarse peat siftings or turf with the grass side down. This is to prevent too much of the finer compost being washed down towards the coarse drainage. The next job is to fill the trough to within 3 cm of the top with a suitable compost. What then is a suitable compost for troughs? I have usually gone for a fairly basic mixture as suggested by the late Joe Elliott, in his book - 'Alpines in Sinks and Troughs'.

All quantities are by bulk:
v Three parts good quality loam
v Two parts moistened sphagnum peat
v One part coarse sand

If you use unsterilised garden loam you may unwittingly introduce worms into your trough. A few bags of John Innes Potting Compost No 2 or 3 could be used instead. Nowadays, there are strong environmental arguments not to use peat and, whilst there are now a number of alternatives available to the gardener, such as bark, wood fibre, wood waste, cocoa shell, coconut fibre (coir), refuse derived humus, sewage sludge and recycled landfill, their availability depends on where you live. I now use a fine-grade of composted bark, available in 80 litre bags, but I have to travel quite a distance for it as none of my local garden centres stock it. Whatever you use as a peat alternative, the main criteria should always be that the product should be crumbly, not smelly and with no or few recognisable raw materials. As for sand, I use coarse concreting sand. Make sure that the sand is washed; any reputable builders merchant should be able to supply this. Mix all of your compost ingredients thoroughly, adding a 3-5 mm coarse grit if you want a more open, faster draining compost, or more peat if you intend to grow peat loving plants. When filling the trough with your compost mix, do a little at a time, firming down each 10 cm layer (not forgetting the sides and corners) at a time. Do this layer firming down until you are within 3 cm of the top — enough for a good topdressing of stone chippings, slate or gravel. However, do not put the topdressing on until the rocks have been positioned and the plants put in.