My concrete Platonic solids stained with iron sulfate. |
I’m not a big fan of concrete in the garden. It raises soil alkalinity (a problem for us, here in the Southwestern US) and it prevents rain from infiltrating into the ground. That being said, concrete is occasionally useful and/or unavoidable.
But I also don’t like the color of bare concrete, nor can I afford the high price of concrete stains. Thankfully there’s a cheap way to stain concrete with iron sulfate, a mineral supplement you can get at nurseries in the Western US (it can be harder to find elsewhere, but Amazon caries it).
Iron Sulfate gives concrete a pleasing, rust colored stain. I recently ended up with a bunch of patio pavers that I stained with iron sulfate in a concrete mixing tray using about a quarter cup per gallon of water. You can also mop it on. Varying the strength of the iron sulfate/water solution you use will increase or decrease the intensity of the stain. Remember that there’s no going back, though. Once stained you can’t get it out.
For more info about iron sulfate as a concrete stain see How I Stained my Concrete Floor.