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California born and bred 25 year old dance machine now living in Salt Lake City. Sardonically irreverent spinster, DIY decorator & vegan baking enthusiast who enjoys sequins, house plants & malt liquor.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Glass jar terrariums.


Terrariums have been on my DIY list for a couple of weeks but I was having a hard time finding the perfect jars for the right price (they are expensive!). My search had spanned two states and I had nearly given up hope until last week.

I remembered I had a couple of glass cake stands that had been retired to the closet (I learned the hard way that if you place fake fruit in a glass lid for one hot summer, the glass will reek of formaldehyde and be unfit to house food forever). Voila! Inspiration struck.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Gravel/sand/small rocks
Activated charcoal ($6 at Wal-Mart in the aquarium supply section)
Potting soil
Plants *Smaller is better!
Glass jars *Larger is better! I thought my jars would do fine but next time I will use larger ones.
Tools *I use this term loosely because what you need depends heavily on what plants you use. All I needed was a spoon for scooping and two trash bags laid out on my living room floor to work on. You might need tweezers to organize tiny plants, scissors to prune the roots of a large plant or gardening gloves if you're a pansy. I recommend to keep it simple.

Set up your work space by laying out everything you're going to use.

Getting everything together is 80% of the work. From here you just layer everything into the jar as follows:

1 inch of gravel/rocks -> 1 inch of activated charcoal -> enough potting soil to cover the roots of your plants -> plants.


Place just enough water in the jar to dampen the soil. Wipe off any water drops or soil that collected on the sides of the jar, place the lid on and set it somewhere pretty.


This is a bare bones terrarium. A lot of people will layer moss over the charcoal to prevent the soil from sinking through to the bottom, but it's totally optional. Check Google for more information about what types of plants thrive or die in this type of container. I can't wait to make more and fill my living room with them.

 

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