| Build a Terrarium |
| by Crede Calhoun Chief Guide for All Earth Eco Tours |
| Keep a bit of summer in your home all year long by making your own terrarium. A terrarium is a small, indoor garden held in a glass container. Now is the time to create your masterpiece and Garrett County provides some of the best mosses, lichens, little ferns, and tiny plants available. You can purchase a terrarium already planted, or construct your own by buying the container, soil and plants from floral shops and other retail stores. Any glass fishbowl or other large glass container like an old fishtank works great.
Companies that make glass terrariums offer many sizes and shapes . Or, make your own from old aquariums, glass jars, etc. To construct your garden, put about 1/2 inch of crushed charcoal and a shallow layer of soil over the bottom of the container. You may mix the charcoal with soil. Soil should be loose, well drained and sterile. Do not use common garden soil because it will soon pack together. For tropical terrariums with foliage plants, use one part soil, one part peat moss, and one part perlite. Or, use a similar soil mix. If you want to create a cactus garden, use a coarse soil made of one part soil and one part sand. All ingredients are available at floral shops and garden centers.
Place plants in the terrarium, and cover roots with soil. Soil level should be no more than 1/5 of the terrarium height. Use rock, driftwood or other materials to add interest. Arrange your plants outside the terrarium before you plant them. For terrariums viewed on all sides, put larger plants in the middle and smaller ones around the edge. For those you view from one side, slant the soil and plant tall plants in back, with shorter plants in front.
Select plants that prefer the growing conditions in your terrarium. Use tropical and woodland plants in a closed, or vented terrarium. Plant cacti and succulents only in open containers. Choose slow and low growing plants that will not quickly outgrow the terrarium. Use plants that offer a variety of color, form and texture.
Before you do any planting, take your time and make certain that the arrangement of your plants creates the desired effect. While they are still in their pots, set the plants around inside the terrarium. (In narrow mouthed containers, it is a better idea to put your ideas down on paper.) Adjust the soil level to create hills at the back, and valleys in the foreground. Move your logs and boulders to different locations within the landscape. Step back a foot or two and see if your arrangement creates the desired effect. If not, do a little more rearranging, and check it again. When you decide that you have created the right 'scene', you are ready to do your planting.
No special tools are needed for planting your terrarium, unless you are using a bottle or other narrow mouthed containers. Most likely, you will use a kitchen spoon as your shovel, a fork as your rake, and small scissors as your shears. Narrow-mouthed terrariums require special tools to get the plant down into the terrarium and into the right spot. (i.e. a funnel to add the soil, long slender sticks to dig with, and some type of 'grabber' (unless you are good with chopsticks) to lower the plants in, and to actually plant them.) Once you plant the terrarium, water lightly and cover the container. You will not need to water very often after this. Remove the cover if sides of container fog with moisture; recover in 24 hours. Occasionally sprinkle foliage lightly with water, but never soak the soil. |
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