I made my first terrarium!

So after reorganizing the house and doing a bit of redecorating over the past few weeks, I ended up with a large empty vase that needed...something. It was too tall for any flowers we might end up getting at the market, so what was I to do with said piece? Well, the answer hit me like a lightening bolt and I realized that it would be a great terrerium container.

Yesterday I embarked on my terrarium building adventure, where the first stop was our local nursery where I received advice and guidance from the experts that work there. I was given advice on what products to use, what plants would be best and how to improvise when I needed certain tools.

I'll give you a step by step process, which photos included, of my project.

(As with all posts that include pictures, to get a larger view, just click on the image.) I think that I could have made it even prettier given more practice, but after fiddling with the project for almost two hours, I decided that I would let the terrarium settle in and see how it turns out after a few days.

Here's everything that you will need for this project:

1. A container that you like, large enough to get the plants inside and for them to flourish
2. Gravel
3. Charcoal
4. Houseplant Planting Soil
5. One taller plant (not sure what plant I got...it, of course, didn't have the marker included)
6. One ground cover plant (I used Baby's Tears)

Step one: Put a layer of gravel in your container, the a shallow layer of the charcoal, and then a decent amount of the potting soil. The amounts will vary due to the size of your container, but you can eyeball it. I had to actually dump out my first attempt because I had too much of everything in there. I knew this because the tall plant wouldn't fit all the way inside the container, which is what you want.

Step two: Now its time to put your plants in the container. You will probably have to improvise tools (I used a chopstick made longer by the use of a pair of pliers as well as a nice, long stick I found in the back yard).

An important note is that you do not want your taller plant to touch the sides of the container. You might have to create some sort of support system within the terrarium, which I did in the following picture:

The plant placing process is completely based on trial and error. I had to do this a few times in order to get the plants to fit correctly. I started with the ground cover first and then tried to put the tall plant in the center of the container, but that failed miserably, so I ended up having to take out all of the plants, more than once, and tried it the other way. This ended up working out well...thank goodness for that long stick I found in the backyard!

So this is what I ended up with after watering. There was extra Baby's Tears (the ground cover) that I put in an old pot I found in the garage.

So once things settle and the water has evaporated from the side of the container, I'll take a more finished picture for you guys.

It was a great learning experience and I think that I would be successful again in creating another terrarium. You just need the aforementioned supplies and a LOT of patience...practice might also come in handy too, but you know, that's a virtue that a lot of us are lacking.

My suggestions for future projects are to possibly check out a few nurseries in your area to see if they have a broad selection of plants that can go in a terrarium. The tall plant I used was the only one available that would work in my particular container. A larger selection would be nice. I would also suggest digging around the tool chest to find more suitable tools for this project. While the pliers holding the chopstick worked, I think that I could have done better.

Now we just have to wait and see how things progress with this project. The plants may die in the future, but I guess that means I get to try the project all over again!