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by Gail

Tip: Common ground with dolly & waterboard

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Living in N Tx country has both pluses & minuses, ESP if you live on black dirt. Having failed with many tries to get things to grow, we decided to stay above ground & use LG pots. That allowed us to change landscape any time desired, well... Almost. Any idea how much large plastic pots full of soil & trees/shrubs weigh ???

We're talking "Big" pots as you can see. I'm small stature so heave- ho & picking them up just ain't gonna happen!

No $$ to buy yard cart that might help, I had to improvise another way to move them. Hhhhmm, old 2-wheel moving dolly, won't work by itself, bottom plate to shallow for pot to fit on without larger plate. OK, wood, will add weight, so no.

Determined to find a way, off to Goodwill I go to find something light weight for bottom plate. Metal tray or cookie sheet, nope too thin. Finally I spotted a thick styro waterboard, fabric covered, totally flat big surface, & very light weight. With my $4 find, I headed for home to put it together. Perfect fit.

Design on board was an added laugh & actually quite befitting. Just above skull was original tie-on for board to be pulled in water, it made perfect tie for attaching it to center support of dolly. Rounded end fit perfectly into dolly cradle for pots to set on.

I proceded to give it a try at moving those big pots with plants. Board resting on dolly plate & ground, pots easily slid or rolled on bottom edge onto board. Next I used a 32" flat bungee cord around pot just under lip. It was the perfect solution! I moved 25 of them in about 3 hrs.

This is how pots on waterboard & dolly looked. Hope this might work for you too.

4 answers

Dougal on Apr 19, 2017

Love this idea, I'm trying to do something like this myself. Out of interest how did you get the pots onto the surfboard? Was it easy to scoop them up? Was there a concern that the surfboard might snap?

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- Gail on Apr 19, 2017
  
  They were actually easy to do. Edge of board is slightly rounded so most slide on easily. For a few of them, I lifted the rim of pot (NOT whole pot) just enough to slide edge of pot onto board, then slid it into cradle of dolly & board then put flat bungee around it. Dolly rolls very easy with it & pulls/pushes mostly with one hand.
  
  Waterboard is thick & very solid even tho made of Styrofoam so would seem likely a very dense foam used for it. Even my weight plus pot has not cracked it.
  
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1240839 on Apr 19, 2017

Bungee cords and ratchet straps are essential tools. Handcarts too. Gardening is hard work!

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Gail on Apr 19, 2017

I found the flat bungees worked better with these pots. This is actually one of the easiest landscape projects I've done in a long time.

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Naomie Moore aka baileyanddaisey, Castaic CA on Apr 19, 2017

Good for you! I would have done the same thing. Thanks for sharing, and saving peoples backs! 👍

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- See 1 previous
- Gail on Apr 19, 2017
  
  Has sure saved mine! So far, I've moved about 70 & have another 40+ to go. Board is holding up well.
  
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- Naomie Moore aka baileyanddaisey, Castaic CA on Apr 19, 2017
  
  Oh my goodness! You are a workhorse! Please be careful!!!!!! And please post a photo when you have things in place so we can admire all your hard work! 💕
  
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