Creative Mission - Part 3

The weather was clear & sunny, the air not too cold, and my 4yr old was at school... perfect time to start the terrariums!!!  I hauled the supplies out to my terrace as needed, and of course this meant starting with the vases and stones.  Luckily the 88 lb bag of stones was already in my shed, so I just filled a bucket to tote the stones back & forth.

#1 : 1-2 inches of stones at the bottom of each vase for drainage

#2 : fill the vases 1/4-1/3 full with soil

Wow, it was seeming simple at this point, I figured I'd been done in no time.  Next was bringing all of the plants outside.  I kept them inside away from the cold as long as I could.  With all of the plants in a row, I now had to decide how I wanted to sort them.  Some of the original combinations I had in mind weren't going to fit, but no biggie.  Plants grouped near their destined containers, I was ready to continue.

#3 : transfer the plants to the vases

I've transferred plants before and I must admit it wasn't always a success.  But to be fair that was when I was transferring them from one pot to another, not from the plastic store containers to a pot.  It was here I hit my first snag.  The level of soil wasn't deep enough for the plants, hmm.  Then once I had the plants in the vases I realized there was little space over to add soil & moss between them.  And a couple of the plants were harder to work with than I thought, especially the Jelly Bean plant, pieces kept breaking off and going throughout the vase.  And the Aloe-ish (I have no idea what it is but it's sharp) was hard to maneuver around thanks to it stabbing me the entire time.  But most of the other plants I chose worked great, at least I hope.  Now it was time to move on to the moss, but I had run out of time, I needed to run to the school and pick up my 4yr old for lunch.  (They often eat lunch at home here in The Netherlands.)  I lugged the now filled and obviously more heavy vases back inside, I didn't dare risk leaving them too long out in the cold and I wasn't sure when I would actually get back to my project.  A couple hours later, I was ready to add the last thing to the terrariums, and yes, I carried all 5 of them back outside again.

#4 : cover soil with moss

O.k., I've never worked with moss before, I had no idea what I was doing.  After tearing a few pieces off and placing them in the vases I noticed the layer of moss below the top layer was actually moister & healthier.  I left the top layer on for protection from the cold and then worked with the layers below.  Since I have 0 understanding of moss, I've decided to hold on to the crate (yes this means storing in the house for a while) for at least a week.  Just in case the moss in the terrariums die I have back-up. 

#5 : water the plants, soil, & moss

The terrariums are put together & watered, and now sitting on my dining room table drying and acclimating to their new environment.  Most likely tomorrow, I will find them permanent places within our apartment. 

Yes, I did it!  Do they look like the ones I saw online, ummm, well, my own version, let's just say that.  Check back soon for Creative Mission - Part 4, and I'll show you the result as well as give you some extra pointers!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica