Mason Jar Terrarium Tutorial

My husband works in a bleak, windowless wasteland of cubicles and fluorescent lights. He got the bright idea to install a terrarium gro-light at his desk, so he can have a little jungle of plants and his very own bubble of non-circulated, forest-fresh oxygen.

Lately I've been pulling up bits of plants and sticking them in mason jars. Sometimes in soil, sometimes just in water. Some take root and some die... Kind of like my thoughts in general, actually. The man was ogling some creeping jenny that was lushly growing in a little jar by the window, so I thought I'd make him a little desktop garden.

You'll need:

• A jar
• Some little plants
• Handful of dry moss
• Handful of smallish rocks or glass marbles
• Dirt, preferably cactus dirt

I started out with this one big jar, to create an enclosed environment. (I ended up not using the foxtail plant in the picture; it was too tall)

Take a handful of moss and layer it on the bottom of the jar. It should be fairly thick. The moss keeps water from just sitting on the bottom of the jar and turning brown and nasty.

Next Layer some rocks on top of the moss. Don't skip the rocks; since the jars have no drainage, they're there to drain water so that your plants don't rot.

Looking back I should have made a thicker layer of moss and rocks, so add more than this if you can. Next dump a bunch of dirt on top of the rocks. I used cactus dirt because the plants won't be watered as much as normal due to the lack of drainage.

Next plant your plants. It's best to use plants like succulents that don't require a lot of water, but I used some creeping jenny, a bit of spider plant, a maidenhair fern, and a cool fuzzy purple plant whose name I can't recall. Just poke your finger down in the dirt and stick the plants in.

 RAAAWWWWRRRR. Seriously, what guy wouldn't dig a T-Rex hiding out in the foliage? No guy. That's who.

The other three terrariums I threw together at the same time. These are so easy to make, and even easier to maintain. Don't overwater!!! Just spray them down with a mister, or sprinkle in some water when the dirt starts to get dry. Stick your finger in the dirt, and if you feel wet, don't water it yet. Unless the plants look sad. If they look like they need a hug and a pep-talk, give them a little. The water has nowhere to go, so give the plants just enough to survive. Deprive them for their own good. Keep them trimmed back, too.

If you make an enclosed bio-sphere environment (i.e., you put the lid on the jars) just open them up once a month or so and give them a misting. The humidity in the jar will be fine for their moisture, as long as you don't open it up too often.

Thanks for reading! If you liked the Mason Jar Terrarium Tutorial, please follow me! (c'mon do it. DO IT. peeeeeeer pressure. this is your brain on my blog. um, lol. btw I'm a freakin' weirdo.) I'm on Pinterest and Bloglovin' too. Scissors and Steam is still shiny and new so please share with your friends and help spread the word! I've got TONS more where this came from. :)

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