Make a Tiny Terrarium

 Hello Readers. I love plants and I really try to give them a good home. I also like to get creative with containers and flower pots. I thought it would be fun to make a small terrarium with some of my plants. It was very easy. Let me show you what I did. 

I used some small cuttings so I could propagate new plants. You can use any small plants you like. This kind of plant set-up requires very little care, attention or water. Perfect for a busy person or someone who isn't very good with plants. (Someone with a bit of a black thumb.) 

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 You will need a container with a lid.  It needs to be clear or mostly clear to let the sunlight in. I am using this glass jar I got from Wal-Mart. It was inexpensive and seemed  really nice and sturdy. 

I washed my jar out just to make sure my new plants would have a nice clean home. It might have been fine but I want my plants to be happy and healthy in their new home. Weird unknown bacteria isn't going to help my plants thrive.

Then I added these beads to the bottom of the jar. If that seems a little weird, it is. What you should add is some type of gravel or small stones made for house plants. It helps with drainage because this container won't drain water from the bottom. It is not supposed to, but the gravel layer helps keep the ecosystem in the jar in a happy state. I could not find any gravel anywhere in town. I live in a small town and my shopping choices are limited, so I had to improvise. 

 

The next and probably most important step is adding soil. These plants need soil to live in. I use this potting mix for my terrarium. It said it had fertilizer and would feed my plants for 6 months. I am not a soil expert but that sounded good to me. 

 

I added about 4-5 inches of soil to my container. It was nice and loose. It covered my beads being used as gravel at the bottom of the jar so that was great. No one will know they are there but you. Shhh, please don't tell anyone.

 

I had a small plant to add to my jar. I gently took it out of the container and tried not to destroy it. I was given some little baby plants at the library, so I am using them and hoping they work. You can use other small plants if you like. Try to use plants with similar water needs. A cactus and a tropical plant might not do well together. They need different amounts of water and come from different climates. 

 

I also had a second very small plant to put in too. 

 

Lastly I added a small succulent and a few it's leaves that hopefully can start new plants. 

 

I made sure the plants were surrounded with soil, and added some water. I did not add too much because there won't be much evaporation if any with this terrarium. 

 

I put the lid on and put the terrarium in a sunny window. I know these plants like sun so they should be happy here. The lid will keep moisture from escaping so I only added about 1/2 cup of water. I can add more if the plants seem dry in a few days but the idea is that the moisture stays in the jar, like a small ecosystem. 

 

A few days later and you can see that a bit of moisture has collected on the inside of the lid. That is exactly what I wanted. That moisture can be absorbed back to the plants as they need it. If the lid was dripping with a lot of water droplets, I would take the lid off for a day or so and let some of the excess moisture evaporate and then close it back up again. If the soil looked really dry and there was no moisture on the lid, I would add a bit more water. 

 

Here's to sunny days and happy plants. I hope you can try this fun plant idea soon. Thanks for reading along.