DIY Rock Mushrooms For the Garden

 

Aren’t these  adorable rock mushrooms the cutest ever??!!!  My grandma has these in her garden up at her cabin in the woods and I always loved them!  I wanted to make some for my yard, and since I found NOTHING on the internet on how to make these, I had to figure out myself how to make some that looked like hers.   They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

Everyone that comes over wants to take one of these little guys home, so I decided to make a tutorial for everyone so that we all can have one, or two…..or a dozen!

You can make big mushrooms, medium sized mushrooms or even little bitty mushrooms, depending on the size of rocks you pick out.  The best place to look for rounded rocks like this are in riverbeds.  They are smoothed and rounded out from years of being tossed and shaped by water running over them. 

The mushrooms pictured in the pic below (except for the large one in the front), are about 6-9 inches tall using lighter, smaller rocks.

 

The larger mushrooms in the pic below (These are my original inspiration from my grandma’s cabin), range from 9 inches to about 1ft tall, (except for the smaller, reddish one). 

Since I’ve figured out how to make rock mushrooms, I’ve actually made some as big as 1-1/2 feet tall using bigger, heavier rocks.  I have found that anything over 1- 1/2 feet in height, starts getting too heavy for the ground to hold them up and they fall over easy. The heavier the mushroom, the harder your ground needs to be because of their weight…..but I will say, it sure does look cute with both large and small ones all clustered together!  Follow along with my tutorial!!  

DIY Rock Mushrooms For The Garden Tutorial

 

Supplies

• (2) River rocks – one that is round and flat in shape for the top of the mushroom, and one that is rectangular in shape for the stem of the mushroom.

Smaller Mushroom: 

• (1) 3/16in steel round rod – cut at 1 inch long (1/2 inch fits inside of the rock and 1/2 in sticks out)
• (1) 3/16in steel round rod  – cut 8 inches long

Larger Mushroom: 

• (1) 1/4in steel round rod – Cut at 1 inch long (You will need this larger size because of their extra weight).
• (1) 1/4in steel round rod – Cut at 1 ft long  (for the very large mushrooms to support their extra weight when stuck into the ground)

Tools

• Hammer Drill – Note: I’ve tried using both a drill press and regular drill and had very little luck–hammer drill is the way to go!
• Masonry Drill Bit – get same sized bits as your steel round rods.  You will be sticking the rods into the holes you drill Note: Depending on how many mushrooms you make and how hard your rocks are, you may want to get 2 or 3 extra bits as one bit may wear out after making a couple mushrooms)
• hack saw (for cutting steel round rods)

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Instructions:

Drilling the holes:

First, gather two rocks: one that is round and flat in shape for the top of the mushroom (left), and one that is rectangular in shape for the stem of the mushroom (right).

 

Next, using the hammer drill and masonry bit, drill a 1/2in hole into middle of both the top and bottom of the longer rock (stem of mushroom) and another hole into the bottom of the round flat rock (top of mushroom). 

 

You can see me drilling a hole into the bottom of my top rock below.

Note: Be sure to wear your goggles and be careful if you have a helper hold your rocks steady (Make them wear gloves!)

 

Inserting the rods:

Insert the shorter rod into the top of the ‘stem’ rock (left) and the longer rod into the bottom end (right) as shown below.

 

Tilt the stem upright and push the longer rod into the ground.  Then fit the top of the mushroom onto the smaller rod on top of the stem.

Important:  If you are having trouble pushing the stem and long rod into the hard ground DO NOT pound any of the rocks with anything such as a hammer.   Doing so will break the rocks!  Instead, soak the ground with water to soften.