Growing in Grace: DIY Flower Bed Lamp Post

Scripture to Live By:

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 9:5

Garden Post:

Several years ago my husband cut down a pine tree that he was afraid would one day come down on the house. He left the stump and we built a flower bed around it.

The tree stump began to decay and so we knew it needed to come out.

We decided it would be a good place to put our outdoor light post. It would shed light on our deck as well as the walkway and the yard.

We dug out the stump and put a medal ring in the spot where the light post would go. This medal ring would be the outline for our concrete pad to be poured.

We would need to run electrical wiring underground from the garage to the light post . So we encased the electrical wire inside a Teflon hose. .

Then my husband dug out to make the concrete approximately 4 inches thick. He leveled the metal rim so the pad of concrete would be level when he poured it.

He placed the wiring inside PVC pipe where the concrete was going to be poured.

Then he dug out so the PVC would go under the rim and still have the appropriate thickness of concrete needed.

Now it is time to mix and pour the concrete.

We put a few scrap metal items, we had on hand, in the circle, to strengthen the concrete and keep it from cracking. There are different ways of strengthening the concrete, but we used what we had on hand.

We ran the wire threw the PVC,as seen below. We used ready mix concrete in the wheel barrel with water as needed. (The instructions are on the bag of Redi-Mix.) We added a little more water than is suggested, to get the consistency we wanted.

Next we poured the concrete mixture into the frame and smoothed it out, then we let the concrete set-up for a couple of days.

Now it was time to put the lamp post together.

My husband followed the directions step by step in putting the light post with three lights together.

When he had it put together, he moved it to the concrete before putting the lamps on it.

He centered the post over the PVC pipe with the wiring.

By tilting the post, he run the wire up through the pole before you bolt the post to the concrete.

To bolt the post to the concrete, he drilled holes into the concrete where the screws would go. We used Kwik Tap concrete screws to secure the post in place.