How to Repair and Refurbish an Old Concrete Garden Fountain

My garden coach recently told me that one of the best ways to attract birds to the garden is with a fountain. Birds need fresh water more than they need seed, and they absolutely go bonkers for moving water.

I saw this fountain at Covington’s Nursery in Rowlett and really loved it, but it cost around $350:

I came across this one on Craigslist for $25. I asked the woman if she’d take $20 but she said no.

As you can see it was sort of a bluish black and had lots of white mineral deposits. Upon close inspection I discovered artists tags that said it originally came from Al’s Garden Art. To my surprise and delight it appears that it was once quite expensive. Isn’t Craigslist GREAT!?!?

From AlsGardenArt.com.

I used a weak vinegar solution to clean the scale. Unfortunately the top part of the fountain with the lily pad broke in half when I was doing this. I could see it had a crack in it beforehand.

I had some concrete crack filler in the garage and used that to stick it back together. It appears to be fine now.

Given that I didn’t like the original color and that the top part now had an obvious seam, I decided to paint the fountain. I used some extra primer and paint in the garage that I had leftover from another project. Benjamin Moore oil primer and oil outdoor gloss. Not the easiest or the most appropriate here probably, but free.

Here’s how it looked after painting.

Since the piece had such cool sculptural detail, I decided to antique the finish using a gloss product to highlight its variations. I found out about Gem Glo gloss during a lecture by a local faux finisher Michael Graves. He teaches classes. Sometime I’d like to take one. You can read more about him here. Generally I think faux finishes are cheesy but his work is so good I had to change my mind.

Using a disposable sponge brush I applied the glaze. Then I removed some with cheesecloth bunched into a ball. I sprayed the finished product with a clear matte finishing coat.

Voila! Turned out pretty well. I am going to buy a fountain pump later today and get it going for the birds.

If you’ve fixed a fountain or even just have a photo of a fountain you like I’d love to see it! Please comment.

Leaf Blower Noise Should be Controlled by Law

Earlier this week I was minding my own business working in my new raised vegetable bed. It sits behind the garage and faces the alley. Normally it’s a peaceful area with an occasional car or dog walker passing by. But once a week when my back neighbor’s yard crew comes the alley becomes a war zone, a whirling tornado of twigs and leaves loud enough to make you think a freight train were coming down the alley.

Three guys on the crew use leaf blowers to scatter leaves out of my neighbors yard and into the alley. Had I not been out there I am sure I would have some leaves in my driveway. I grabbed my earplugs from inside and continued with my planting bed.

I looked for some data about blowers, and as it turns out, they are indeed exceedingly loud and I am not alone in hating them.

At fifty feet away the decibel level of the average blower is 10 times higher than what’s suggested for safe outside listening, according to nonoise.org.

Local governments and municipalities, especially in places like California, are looking to control aspects of the blowers, such as the times they are allowed to be used (please not 7:00 a.m.)! Here’s one recent story about a Boston neighborhood trying to restrict usage of blowers.

I think it would also be useful to figure a way to mandate or encourage the use of lower decibel blowers. This piece in Wired suggests that quieter blowers exist, they are just more expensive. Citizens are not allowed to drive around with extremely loud mufflers, why not apply the same sort of thinking to blowers?

What do you think? Are you a blower? Do you hire a crew and not worry about it? Does anyone rake anymore?