Modelling soil in a garden / allotment.

[Kris]

My children have said that they want the houses on their railway (00 gauge - see the link on my signature) to have a garden. It needs to have some plants other than grass growing in it, so what do people do to model soil?  In 2mm or N I just paint the area an appropriate colour, does this work in 00?

[Ray Von]

I modelled a garden with veg patch some years ago, I used some leftover very fine black ballast and painted it a dark brown - it looked fine.  My favourite part was modelling the veg!  If you're serious about it (to the extreme) you can model veg that is in season!  Cabbage can be made with scrunched up green tissue paper, I made bean "teepees" substituting bamboo with paint brush bristles dusted with green flock and my personal favourite - a prize winning marrow (a grain of rice painted green!) 

[sb67]

I use garden soil here Kris, dried and sieved I then painted the baseboard area brown and sieved the soil over that while it was wet. When it was dry I then smoothed some areas with my finger depending on the look I wanted. 

Hope that's a help.

 

 

[Chrisr40]

Dried tea leaves work well. Dry the tea bag out obviously if you intend to make a brew with it first. I scattered them over corrugated card painted brown to make a ploughed field.

Good luck.

[Mallard60022]

1 hour ago, Kris said:

My children have said that they want the houses on their railway (00 gauge - see the link on my signature) to have a garden. It needs to have some plants other than grass growing in it, so what do people do to model soil?  In 2mm or N I just paint the area an appropriate colour, does this work in 00?

I'd make the gardens according to your era. If it is for kids though they probably are not too fussed but most modern houses don't have veg plots. They may have Play equipment and a Trampoline etc.

If it is 'old steam era then it depends on type of house and location. 

I'd go for grass, some bushes and a Tree with the things the kids choose to go in the gardens; give them some research to do according to geography and season and type of dwellings...could be a Home Schooling project?

P

[Les Bird]

I use dried tea leaves too. They work well and it gives an excuse to drink more tea!

[Mallard60022]

3 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

I'd make the gardens according to your era. If it is for kids though they probably are not too fussed but most modern houses don't have veg plots. They may have Play equipment and a Trampoline etc.

If it is 'old steam era then it depends on type of house and location. 

I'd go for grass, some bushes and a Tree with the things the kids choose to go in the gardens; give them some research to do according to geography and season and type of dwellings...could be a Home Schooling project?

P

Having checked your lovely little layouts it looks like steam era so the three big dwellings are the ones with the grass. 6 gardens? General: Flower beds, green house, shed, old Air Raid hump and entrance, swing, slide and one with nothing done and a right mess with an old motor bike or something. Bird Loft/cages? Probably washing lines, not whirlygigs. One with very neat beds and a veg plot using stuff mentioned above, or visit a local Allotment site and ask to take some pics and let the kids use those for reference. I bet the boys will compete to make the most interesting gardens, including helping produce some people to be in them?

Such fun,

P

[russ p]

Woodland scenics do a couple of different soils 

[spikey]

Treemendous does a very good soil - and a Normandy soil if you want a lighter colour

[The Johnster]

If you have placed the layout in a specific locality, check the local geology; soil is, after all, degraded and eroded rock mixed with decaying organic matter, and the colour and texture follow the rock to an extent.  London clay is particularly distinctive, and a pig to work as any gardner in the smoke will assert.  Very few gardners in steam days, even fairly well to do ones in detached houses, could afford to import soil and used what they had, improved with bought compost if they didn't have a compost heap  of their own or were building one up.  A compost heap was a thing of great wonder, secret additives, and took years to perfect; many gardners were inordinately proud of theirs during my childhood (50s and 60s).  Mother was the greenfingers in our family, and I struggle a bit, not having inherited that talent from her, and would command Father to stop if we were out in the car anywhere and she'd spotted horse dung in the road; it was collected in newspaper and put in the boot, and preferred in fresh, still steaming, condition. 

 

Tea leaves, as well as being a good source of turned 4mm, went on our compost but had to be aged into a soggy pulped mess first in an old cup.

[Kris]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

 

The layout that this is for does not have a specific location or a set time period, my boys are not that perceptive, however I am trying to keep things set some time in the past (not sure quite how long ago however but late 80's/ early 90's fits with the newest liveried rolling stock that the have), so giant line blockers (sorry trampolines) are not going to show up, neither are wheelie bins. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Kris

[SM42]

Dried coffee grounds perhaps

 

Andy

[Ray Von]

I remember growing up in the early 80s that  everyone in the street had low chain link fences in between gardens to natter over.  By the mid 80s 6ft high (at least!) slatted fence panels were the must have.  I recall me and my friends all had swings or climbing frames etc too.  Fish ponds - with no kind of filter - were popular as well...

[Kris]

11 minutes ago, Ray Von said:

I remember growing up in the early 80s that  everyone in the street had low chain link fences in between gardens to natter over.  By the mid 80s 6ft high (at least!) slatted fence panels were the must have.  I recall me and my friends all had swings or climbing frames etc too.  Fish ponds - with no kind of filter - were popular as well...

I've been printing fence panels and have put them up in the back gardens of some of the houses. They are quick and easy to print, however don't just try to paint one side at a time unless you want a fence panel made of wood that is bendier than that from your favourite DIY warehouse. 

 

I do like the idea of adding a fishpond or two. I suspect that my boys would like that as well. I've some resin left over from Coombe viaduct so we could go for some clear ones. 

[t-b-g]

I had never thought of using real soil until I saw some on a layout earlier this year.

 

Admittedly that was an O Gauge layout but the person using it was telling me that soil is rather like coal in that you can break it down to as fine or coarse as you want and it keeps its texture.

 

It looked absolutely superb.

 

It will certainly be what I try next time I need to do some.

[The Johnster]

Carrot peelings cut to 1-2mm strips for goldfish; they will not rot once they are set in clear varnish or resin ‘water’.  Actual working goldfish are a bit more of a challenge...

Edited January 8, 2021 by The Johnster

[Ray Von]

I would make the water as murky as possible for realism!  A mate of mine contracted a very nasty gastric bug after emptying out a small garden pond.