Once a week I meet up with up to two of my blogging friends to go for a power walk, usually at the local mall. It's a great opportunity to socialize, exercise and discuss blogging things or just about anything else. Having some supportive peers has been really beneficial to me in more than one way! So when Hillary came up with the idea to get together to be crafty, I naturally said ok! Her idea was to create terrariums, little indoor gardens under glass.
Sherry knew that a local garden center, Primex, had a staff person who taught classes on terrariums, along with selling the necessary supplies. We met there to shop and pick out potting medium, horticulture charcoal, plants and a few accessories. It was a successful shopping trip! Afterwards we headed back to Hillary's house to create our little gardens. We each had brought a glass vessel. I had picked up a fancy mason jar at Homegoods a while back and decided it would make a pretty container for the plants. We all chose to make closed terrariums, which means not only is a lid used, but the atmosphere inside the vessel is more humid and needs plants that can survive with that level of humidity. The associate at Primex pointed out the types of plants that work well in humid climates, in particular mosses.
We also learned that it's important to use soiless potting medium, avoiding peat. The peat compacts too much and makes rehydration more difficult. Adding horticultural charcoal to the medium helps retain oxygen. While some terrariums are layered, mixing the charcoal into the potting medium is fine. Stones do not help drainage, but can be attractive, so they are optional.
I like the layered look, so I added a layer of gravel and stones to the bottom of my glass vessel. (photo 1.) Then the potting medium mixed with charcoal was added (Photo 2.) We used 4 parts potting medium to one part charcoal. (Photo 3.) My vessel was too narrow to fit all three of my plants, so I ended up only planting two. (Photo 4.) I think that I may try to find a larger container and make a second terrarium later on with my son that may become a fairy garden. After I was satisfied with the placement of my plants, I added some garden stones around them and misted the sides of the glass jar with a water sprayer to clean off the specks of dirt and to add moisture to the potting medium. (Photo 5.)
I found a tiny pink mushroom that I added to my terrarium. Since it was such a tight spot, that's about all I could fit in there. I think adding some Lego minifigs would be really cute too!
So the final results: success! These three crafty friends made some really pretty terrariums! Now we need to plan our next craft project!
