Conceal and beautify manhole covers in the garden

Probably nobody wants a manhole cover in their lovingly tended garden. Yet they are there. But there are ways to conceal or at least beautify manhole covers.

Create a mini rock garden

One way to cover up a manhole cover could be a mini rock garden, provided it is in a mostly sunny location. It is best to use a shallow planting bowl with drainage holes, stones or pebbles of different sizes, potting soil, sand, expanded clay and suitable ones Plant. Now it's time to arrange the whole thing nicely.

• Cover the drain hole with potsherds or stone
• Fill the bowl about half full with expanded clay
• put fleece on it
• Mix soil with sand
• alternatively use herbal soil
• put a thin layer on the fleece
• Pot and plant plants
• then fill it up with some soil
• distribute larger pebbles around the plants
• Fill gaps with grit
• pour vigorously at the end

The plant bowl should be at least the size of the manhole cover to cover it well. Depending on where the lid is, the bowl can also be bordered with ground-covering plants. Or you can design a larger area around the bowl with pebbles of different sizes and colors.

Tip: Suitable for planting, for example sedum, houseleek, blue cushion, ice plant and candytuft, stone herb, star cushion bellflower and other easy-care cushion perennials.

Decorate the planter on it

Probably the simplest solution to conceal the cover is to place a plant pot of appropriate size directly on the manhole cover. You can then use it, for example hardy Plant species so that you don't have to look at the bare manhole cover even in the cold season. Or you can equip it with a changing seasonal planting.

Plants with large leaves, such as hostas, as well as ground-covering or climbing species that grow over the edge of the container and thus perfectly cover the lid, do particularly well. Brilliant colors ensure, for example elf mirror, cape basket, loyal to men, Lantana, the evergreen finial, a bushy fuchsia or the snowflake flower.

Tip: Not only are you spoiled for choice when it comes to planting, you can also use decorative parts for the planter, depending on your personal taste. Be it a wicker basket, a noble terracotta vessel, an old barrel, a zinc tub or similar.

Plant small shrubs

If you don't like the variant with the plant pot, you can, if the conditions allow it, cover the manhole with small, sprawling ones shrubs, bushes or ornamental leaf perennials. Hosta species are also available here, as well as blackboard leaf, different-colored sheet leaf species (Rodgersia), purple bells, bergenia and Caucasus forget-me-nots. Even small shrubs like that five finger bush, the mayflower bush, hydrangeas, sack flower and summer spars make the manhole cover disappear over time.

Tip: A manhole cover can be concealed particularly nicely under Acer palmatum 'Orangeola', a colorful variety of Japanese slotted maple that grows mainly in width.

Artificial stones for embellishment

Real stones like B. Large boulders can be very decorative, but are far too heavy to cover a manhole cover and can only be moved with great effort. But that's not a problem at all, because there are now very beautiful, lifelike artificial stones or rocks. They weigh next to nothing, can be easily moved and can hardly be distinguished from real ones in terms of appearance. They are usually frost-proof, UV-resistant and can be easily integrated into almost any garden. Unattractive areas such as a manhole cover can be perfectly concealed with a flick of the wrist.

Tip: Artificial stones are available in different sizes, shapes and colours.

Paint manhole cover

If you are a bit creative, you can also paint the manhole cover and turn something meaningless into a real eye-catcher. If it is getting a bit old and has rust, it must be removed first. A wire brush or sandpaper usually works quite well. Or you can treat rusty spots with a rust converter.

• Use at temperatures of at least ten degrees
• not in direct sunlight and humidity of more than 85%
• Thoroughly clean areas to be treated
• then let it dry well
• Apply rust converter undiluted
• twice if necessary on heavily structured manhole covers
• the second time after about 20-30 minutes
• Apply paint or varnish after 8-12 hours at the earliest

When painting you can let your creativity run free. In order to achieve a uniform image, the paint should be applied as seamlessly as possible, including in the gaps. This can be a little tedious on a manhole cover, but it can be worth the effort. Depending on the position of the lid, you can also replant it with small perennials in the colors of the respective painting.

A notice: Rust Converter converts rust into a stable, durable, non-porous surface. A primer is then usually no longer necessary.

Be sure to note

There is usually a corresponding shaft under a manhole cover. This, in turn, is normally the property of the municipality and is to be tolerated by the property owner. Such a shaft is part of the property drainage system and is used for checking, maintaining, repairing and cleaning pipelines. To ensure all this, he should be freely accessible at all times can be uncovered easily, provided it is still actively used. For this reason, it must not be built over, paved over or planted over. So if you want to make him unrecognizable, you should definitely take that into account.

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