Hi I'm Alyson, welcome to the Virtual Greenhouse.
Closed terrariums are fully functioning
ecosystems just miniaturised.
During the day as plants
photo-synthesise, condensation
builds up on the inside of the glass vessel,
then just like rainfall, it trickles down
into the soil and get sucked up by the roots.
So you have this lovely continual process
happening within the glass vessel.
When I first started making terrariums
you couldn't buy terrarium tools, like you now can
so I started to make my own DIY toolkit.
My kit consists of long chefs tweezers,
aquarium scissors, chopsticks for
borrowing holes and dropping down plants,
a funnel for dropping down stones and soil,
kitchen roll for cleaning
the inside of the glass vessel,
and a pipette or meat baster
for administering water as close
to the plant's roots as possible.
I also create these bamboo stick tools
by cutting across in
the bamboo and sliding in
paint brushes, spoons, forks.
The sponge and paint brushes
are for cleaning up and finishing off.
The spoon is for digging and when
it's bent for tamping down soil,
the fork makes for
a great rake and moss fluffer.
First step, you'll need to source your glass vessel.
So long as it's glass,
anything with a lid will do.
Think apothecary
bottles, Carboys or Demi Johns.
You can also use a clip top mason jar
or just a regular jam jar.
And drainage stones such as larger pebbles
or slate, activated carbon or charcoal.
This is used in aquarium filters and can be
purchased in most aquarium or pet shops.
Soil, I like to make my own mixtures
but regular potting soil will do the trick.
Slate or decorative stones to
sit on the surface of your soil.
I like to complete
my terrariums with clusters of crystals
you can include shells, rock, ammonites.
Always try to keep it tropical.
Succulents and cacti will
hate the high humidity
that builds up in a terrarium.
Also always avoid herbs.
Here is a lovely selection of plants
that will thrive in your terrarium.
This is the Ginseng Ficus,
Fittonia or the Nerve Plant
is always a terrarium favourite.
Like the Fittonia leaves
Calatheas
have lovely patterning on their leaves.
Despite the common name the asparagus fern
is not a true fern
but is a member of the
asparagus family and creates,
beautiful canopies of foliage in your terrarium.
These Pilea over here
also known as friendship plants so maybe
consider using these if you're
creating a terrarium gift.
If you're looking for something that flowers,
try the Ludisia or the Jewel Orchid
it's a firm favourite of mine,
also maybe try an African Violet,
they also thrive in terrariums.
Now finally, over to the moss
I have a selection of bun moss or
also called cushion moss and sheet moss here.
Now moss is a beautiful addition
to your terrarium.
It really completes the terrarium
creating little mounds of greenery
To start with,
I'm going to add my drainage layer.
A few centimetres of drainage stones
at the base of the terrarium.
Now, because we're working in
a closed glass vessel
it doesn't have any holes in the base,
we need to create this drainage layer.
The problem with having moisture
in the soil is that it
leads to all sorts of nasty things
like root rot.
Next up is our activated carbon or charcoal.
I usually add a couple of spoons of
the charcoal and I just
sprinkle it on the surface
of the drainage layer.
There's no need to sort of mix
it in or anything like that.
So the idea is, as
the water is doing
its cycle within the glass vessel,
and any sort of
toxins or impurities are captured,
are absorbed by the activated charcoal.
Next step is our soil.
So I'm just going to start
adding handfuls of this.
I usually fill up the terrarium
to an imaginary halfway mark
and then I tamp down the soil
so it sits just below that halfway mark.
You can, if you like,
create your terrarium on
a bit of a gradient, however
for a terrarium like this
I quite like to just keep it
on a flat surface.
I quite like to start with
the largest plant in the centre,
and then I kind of spiral
out with the smaller plants
however, with this opening,
I think it's probably going to be
a better idea to start from the outside
inside, as it might be quite tricky
to manoeuvre around
that sort of central plant.
So I think I'm going to go for
the Ginseng Ficus, a bit of the
sort of more reddish Fittonia,
these little Pilea to include in that.
I'm going to start removing
the plants from pots,
gently massaging those roots.
You want to get as much of the soil off the roots
possible without of course damaging the roots.
Right, I'm quite happy with that.
I'm going to place that to one side.
And again, massage those roots.
And in this case a couple.
Now for the Pilea, the friendship plants,
I think the arrangements of
odd numbers always just look better,
it's something to consider
anyway whilst you're doing you're planting.
So I am going to grab my chopsticks
I'm just going to start burrowing
a hole in soil.
Using sort of circular motions
And I usually, I usually stop when
I hit the drainage layer at the bottom.
And I'm gonna start with my Fittonia.
Now you can use
your chopsticks or tongs to lower
the plant down, but because I can get
my hand into the glass vessel
I'm just going to place
the roots into the hole that I
created for them. You can make
sure that your plant is securely planted
by doing a little tug test on the leaves.
If the plant comes out of the soil
then you know you just need to secure it a little bit better.
And again, borrowing
a hole with the chopstick.
Now when I'm planting I do like to keep
my planting as central as possible.
I don't want to see leaves pressed
up against the glass.
Leaves are always going to touch the glass,
but it's when you see leaves
pressed up against the glass,
that's usually where they become
quite transparent and watery
and I usually find mold tends
to break out more at that point.
Again, lowering the Pilea into the hole.
I am going to have to move him back
a little bit just because
these leaves are really
pressing up against the glass.
You might also want to trim down
any leaves that aren't serving your terrarium.
And once you've trimmed off those leaves
just be sure to remove those. So this is often a
good stage to start
cleaning the inside of the glass.
Now I really love adding moss to terrariums, I feel like
it just completes the whole sort
of miniature landscape.
I usually use the bun moss
to create the sort of mounded shapes.
And what I'm doing now is I'm just removing
the base of the moss.
These are Rhizoids, I'm not actually
damaging moss by doing this. So don't worry too much
It's not as if we were removing
the roots of plants for example.
And now what I'm going to do is
just sort of dust off the surface.
Now I usually hold the green of the
moss against the inside of the glass.
So, try to
bare that in mind as you
slide the moss down glass.
I press the moss with my fingers
against the inside of the glass.
And then with my thumb I kind of
round the shape of the moss.
Really sort of emphasising
that lovely sort of clumped shape.
I'm quite happy with that.
And I also like to
make sure some sort of
foliage is draping over the moss,
just so that it feels like its integrating nicely
with the planting around it,
I think it can look a little bit
separate and disconnected otherwise.
I only tend to add
one or two clumps of moss
And I always try and
avoid that sort of moat of moss.
So I'm going to add my second section
now of this beautiful bun moss.
I always find moss to be
a really good indicator of what's
happening inside the terrarium
When the moss starts to look a little bit
pale and even starts to split a little bit.
I usually think maybe there's
not enough moisture.
With the green of the moss
against the inside of the glass.
Now, I'm pretty happy with this.
I might add a little bit of
the sheet moss
just to give a little bit of
a difference in texture.
Now for the final layer,
I'd quite like to use
slate on the on the surface of the soil.
I personally don't mind
seeing these sections of soil.
However, you might want to just finish
it with a different surface.
I just sort of drop
the state in around the side
And then with the paintbrush or another tool,
and then kind of just manoeuvre the bits
closer to the centre.
And now for the cherry on top,
I'm going to include
a piece of this beautiful amethyst.
Now I'd quite like it to look
almost a bit hidden, or tucked away
So, I do try
to sort of bury it a little bit
and then kind of have some foliage
hiding it away a little bit
like a little sort of secret.
And of course,
really cleaning down
the insides of the glass.
You can use your kitchen role
at this stage as well.
I find a sponge on
a bamboo stick often does the trick.
And a paintbrush on bamboo,
as well, is good for really just
sort of dusting off the leaves.
Now, all that's left to do is to
place the lid on the terrarium.
And you can congratulate yourself on
your beautiful new miniature garden
before I go
Here's a little bit on how to care for your terrarium.
Now I very seldomly
add water to my terrariums,
I always like to see about 50% condensation,
50% clear glass during the day.
Never have your terrarium in direct sunlight.
The glass of your terrarium can act
as a magnifying glass and singed the plants.
If it's looking a little bit sludgy
and there's a lot of moisture in the terrarium,
simply remove the lid
and just leave it off at night.
That should reset everything within.
If the opposite is happening and you're not
having any condensation building up.
You might want to consider moving
your terrarium into a brighter spot.
You might need to do a bit of
housekeeping from time to time.
Always keep leaves trimmed down.
As I was saying, when leaves
start to press up against the glass,
it's probably a good idea to trim them.
Any mold in the terrarium has to go,
be sure to trim it out as quickly as
you see it and if its spread to the entire plant,
you're going to have to just
take the whole plant out.
There, that's it, thank you for making a terrarium with me today.
My name is Alyson Mowat
and I wish you all the luck in
making many more little miniature gardens.