Making a Terrarium (Part 4) – Planting

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Continuing on with our terrarium series, here it is—the time we’ve been waiting for, which is to pot up this lovely terrarium. This terrarium is going to be a fairy garden terrarium. I’m actually the author of the book Fairy Gardening, so here is the spike moss we’re going to use. I had put a little bell in here too when I chose the accessories in the prior video, and my fairy garden book’s autographed copies are available on my website as well in my store.

Next, we have this really cute little fairy house. Of course, in a fairy garden, we need to have a lovely little fairy, so we chose her to match up with the scene.

Now, this is a standard traditional terrarium with a lid, and you can see through it. It’s really pretty! I’m going to use this for this scene here. You can see that it is nice and clean. You want to make sure that the terrarium has been cleaned and disinfected. If you’ve used it before, you can clean it with a nine parts water to one part bleach solution. The nice thing about glass is that you can clean it fairly well with soap and water, not even needing to use bleach in many cases. After you clean it, let it air dry well to ensure it’s ready to go.

Now, for planting, what you want to do is follow a procedure here, keeping in mind that the terrarium does not have drainage holes. This isn’t your traditional potting up of house plants. Instead, we are creating a very humid microclimate where plants such as the spike moss thrive because they love high humidity and moist conditions.

In the prior video, I talked about proper selection of the plants for the terrarium. First, we are going to put in a quarter inch of gravel on the bottom of this terrarium. The gravel is for drainage, and keeping in mind that terrariums are different than other plants, you can’t do this gravel trick with your regular house plants because they need quick drainage. This setup is for plants that want to live in basically a little mini rainforest.

So, let’s put in a quarter inch of gravel. Eyeball it a little bit to see if it looks like about a quarter of an inch. You could measure it if you want to ensure accuracy. This will give any excess water at the root zone a place to go.

Next is a half-inch layer of charcoal, which will absorb any odors that may build up in the terrarium. It’s important to add this as it will also help prevent excessive moisture. You can get horticultural charcoal from various nurseries or suppliers of garden products.

Then, we will add a quarter of an inch of sphagnum moss. Be careful not to breathe this in when you’re pouring it. On top of this, we want a four-inch layer of soil; however, unfortunately, this terrarium is not going to allow for that much, so we will see what happens.

You can mound up the soil since you will be putting a lid on here. I am only putting one plant in here, so I can mound up on one side where the plant is going to be and then keep it a lot lower in the front where there will be accessories.

Now I’m going to take my spike moss, gently remove it from the pot, and check how it fits. It seems like it will snuggle in well.

The good news is that the watering method I’ll show you will help keep the soil intact around the plant. I’m also going to put in the fairy house and nestle that in as much as possible.

Next, I’ll put in some marbles to give it a nice look. Remember to view the terrarium from all sides as you’re working. I’m adding marbles, focusing on colors that blend well with the scene. You can also put green moss or gravel on top, but I’m not going to do that in this one.

Once everything is set, I’m going to use the turkey baster method to water occasionally. You want to keep it moist in there but not create a lake. Only water when the terrarium dries up by approximately 50 percent, and avoid over-watering to prevent root rot.

To maintain the terrarium, place it in bright, indirect light. Avoid putting it in a window where it could heat up too much. Once established, the terrarium doesn’t require much care; you can simply trim back the foliage every one to two months. Fertilize just once a year at an eighth strength of a liquid fertilizer.

If you notice any rotting leaves or if the sides of the terrarium need cleaning, you can easily rinse them out. Keeping the terrarium away from drafty areas is advisable, and maintaining cleanliness will prevent fungus buildup.

That’s it for putting together a lovely terrarium. It’s very fun to look at and watch it grow slowly. Thank you for stopping by today! Please leave any comments about any indoor gardening tutorials you’d like to see, and remember to like, comment, subscribe, and share this video. Check the bell if you’d like to be notified when new videos are released.

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