I looked up glue for styrofoam and Elmer's white glue and Aleene's tacky glue (you can find it at Wal-Mart) are supposed to work great. Gorilla Glue was also mentioned and liquid nails, but only for styrofoam. Since I have some white glue and tacky blue here I'm going to try that on a scrap piece to see how well it works.

Just make sure it will continue holding after having soil/water added. I think I would go with one of the stronger glues. Would be such a shame to put that much work into it and have it come apart. : (

I can't beleive I missed this forum! I really love what you guys have done witht the styrofoam boxes! The look so much better than I had envisioned. I have a neighbor that gardens on his rooftop with plain styrofoam boxes and they make it through our below zero winters just fine I have a million plans for things to do when we get tback to the states and this is one of them!

This picture shows his tiny multipurpose rooftop where ALL of the clothes are dried, veggies are grown and as you can see; he dries the peppers that he grows over by the bus stop up there, too.

Lovely thread... glad to see foam is gettng out... The last three wnters I've made a cool room to overwinter my plants in... about 10' x 12 ' 8' tall... alll out of 2" foam... come spring I break t apart and make things from it.. lots of planters.. and other things... you'll see...
Here's a long planter.. wth a corner pond... all out of foam... it overwintered last year and was without a leak this spring

I make lots of stuff from it... everything you gray you see here is foam... the skylght.. fluted columns.. wall planters... everything of foam

O... a few more pictures... then I'll explain my techniques..
everything you see s on my roof top garden.. so changing over from building with 2x green lumber for planters and such.. saves a tremendeous amount of dead load weight... and t has the ability to medate the temperature flux... cooler in the summer.. [ my roof surface gets up to 165* F quite easly.. but the foam s slow to transfer it to the drt nside ] I can water with cold water.. and hours later the soil is still cooler.. and it's warmer n the winter.. as the daytme highs are carred over for hours.. and it has the benefit of not warming up quicly on a bright sunny winter day and havng things want to break dormantcy... sap flowing.. only to have the cell structure rupture with the cold nights.. ... one of the biggest winter problems.. as the roof surface heats up readily then also.. and sun on the planters will do that anywhere also...
so this year I'm running out of space for planters... here's a container inside the foam skylight in the previous picture.. everything seen is foam.. aside from the starway

ok.. like I said I'm running out of things to make from the foam... at 2" thick.. it has twice the insulation of your refrigerator... and likely more than your house... SO...I always need more seating... so I built this sectional out of foam.. with off the shelf pllows..or is that sexional..

Gordon where do you get such big pieces of styrafoam? Look forward to hearing about your technique. You obviously have a talent for sculpting it as well. Amazing!!!

OK... how does it happen..
buy the 2" or 1 1/2 " foam @ home depot or Lowes...
lay out lines with a fine point sharpie..
and cut it with a japanese pull saw.. or any cross cut saw will do..
I coat the edges where they will join with the PL polyurethane construction adheasive... [HD & Lowes ]
then I run 4" exterior screws to hold them together.. now these screws won't hold the foam real well .. used alone.... but when they go through the adheasive inbetween.. it coats the screws wth adheasive.. and it's taken into the second foam board... when it sets up in there.. it's the adheasive that holds it in there... not so much the threadding on the screws..
it's pretty easy

Susan... the foam comes 4' x 8 ' to make it thicer just stack them.. HA HA I'll show you sculpted foam at the end...
so I have the planters.. or anything... I use a synthetic stucco to cover it with.. Parex... here's a few hundred available finishes...http://www.lahabrastucco.com/colorcharts.shtml
on items that don't requre a bunch of heavy ddurability I just use the stucco.. but you can imbed a fbergalass cloth in it [ like the mesh sheetrock tape only in bigger rolls.. but for small projects you can use that ] to give it durability...
did you ever wonder how in vegas they made vennice.. New York... Egypt... it's all stuccoed foam.. you can get any look...

Those are super - I'll be keeping my eyes open outside the computer store for sure. I passed up a couple because obviously they came from a REALLY big flat screen tv, and were long and skinny, but thinking about it now, I could have cut them up and re-glued them. The cogs are turning now!

I've made a tutorial for the real thing (sorry, I know, off topic) here: http://www.bluefoxfarm.com/hyp... just for fun.

Thanks Blue Fox, I was hoping we were going to get to learn how to make those...head planters are my favorite☺

June I am intrigued by how all usable spaces are used in Korea. We could do so much better in this country. Love the photo, there really is so much to see in it.
Between you and Gordon you have the wheels turning. I can see where this whole process could be used to make a great cold frame for overwintering less hardy plants, or to start seeds.
I see some amazing projects coming to this thread.
Gordon, your use of foam is mind boggling. How did you get started using foam in your projects? What was your inspiration?
Thank you for posting all the amazing photos.

hello! I am shocked by all the incredible foam stuff....and the seating area blew me away!!!

Lynn, check to see if my links are okay now, please. Yours are fine.

I found 3 styrofoam containers in the trash by the Korean market today. One really smelled fishy, but still had to take it home. Put it in the back of the truck and soon the entire truck smelled like fish, not a nice smell. When we got home I couldn't wait to take the containers out and turn the hose on them. I sure hope the fishy smell goes away. I didn't see any of the men around to ask about any more containers, but next Monday is another day!!! I didn't know you could buy styrofoam in sheets at Lowe's or Home Depot, have to look around.

Becky all the your links are working great now.
As soon as I get caught up I will be over for coffee at your Garden Art Forum. You have some amazing stuff over there.

Pegi try filling the container with water and a bunch of baking soda. See if that will get rid of the fish smell. Want to be careful that the smell doesn't invite unwanted critters.

I rinsed out all containers, if they smell fishy tomorrow I'll use the baking soda solutiion. I painted my first containers a light green (have a lot of that on hand) I painted the boards of my raised bed with it and put a sign up, sun faded out my flowers on the sign so have to repaint them.

Gordon I'm just amazed what you have done with foam. I never gave it a thought that you could use it in so many ways.

Take some photos for us Pegi, we would love to see them. : )

These are the 2 containers I painted green, no plants yet. I have a few smaller ones that I haven't painted yet. Have no idea what will go in there, my problem is trying to find a place to put them before filling with soil.

Will take pictures after I start working on the other containers. One of them still smelled fishy so I'm going to fill that one with water and baking soda.

What a nice soft green and bright blue. Love the colors Pegi. Those will be beautiful once planted. : )

Gordon, do you have to do anything special to get the stucco to stick to the styrofoam?