Make A Terrarium, step by step

As a bunch of you saw on Facebook and Instagram, we went on a giant lumber run, which means there is a whole lotta building that is about to commence in the nursery. But first we have to paint the walls and ceiling, so we hope to knock that out today and tomorrow (and have an update for you folks on Monday). Three cheers for at last saying goodbye to those door-overspray marks on the wall!

And while we get our paint on, I thought I’d share a pleasant and straightforward “anyone-can-do-it” project (involving living things, ahh!). Most importantly: there is a compact deer living in a compact glass house in our house.

And the good news is that he cannot die… but the plants nearby most certainly can.

So this is going to be one of those experiments to see if low maintenance plants truly exist. Because we all know I do not exactly have a green thumb. Remember when I begged you to assist me keep my cacti alive? Well the good news is that they are all still alive and kicking, over two months later.

Wanna know how I am keeping them alive? By fully ignoring them. 100%. I have only watered them once. In TWO MONTHS! Everyone told me simply to give them a drop when the soil feels truly dry, so I have truly taken that to heart. And they enjoy me for it. Well, at least they do not hate me (and are not dying in protest). Some of you even noticed them still alive and kicking in last week’s chair post. Werk, little cacti. Werk.

So now that I have had a decent amount of success with that fully no-maintenance planting experience, as you can imagine I practically think I am a top level botanist. Simply kidding, I still have fairly much zero plant confidence (see those succulents on the shelf in the background of this pic? They are fake from HomeGoods). But it did inspire me to try one more “it theoretically should take care of itself” situation on for size. Namely, a terrarium.

It all began when I found this excellent glass container at a lighting shop a few weeks back (The Decorating Outlet here in Richmond). The cool thing is that they typically sell this as a light fixture like this, but this one was not drilled to accommodate a light for some reason, so it was marked down to $16. It simply sort of whispered “Fill me with a few green things and a compact plastic deer. You know you want to.” So I thought, OK, let us see if this black thumb of mine can create (and hopefully maintain) a terrarium. Like without any actual maintenance.

Here is how I made it.

Step 1. Cut a hole in a box. Simply kidding. The first step was in fact finding a glass container that I liked (you could also try a big glass container like this or an apothecary jar like this). UPDATE: Shades of Light in fact sells this exact piece as a terrarium now!

Step 2. I googled around and read about 20 terrarium walkthroughs. There were a lot of distinct methods, but the ones with charcoal – like this one – seemed the most self-stable (meaning you did not have to open them and water them, because the charcoal theoretically should make them into their own little self-sustainable ecosystem).

Step 3. I wrote out a list of supplies I would need: gravel, charcoal, potting soil, and some small plants. I ducked out into the garage to get some bagged potting soil, and simply stole some gravel from our driveway to fulfill that requirement. Then I went to Home Depot and grabbed two small succulent containers for around $5 and looked for charcoal (some plant stores sell it) but no dice. So I hit up a local greenhouse (Strong Big Greenhouse here in Richmond) and got a compact bag of charcoal for $1.

Step 4. I brought in about an inch of gravel to the bottom of the container.

Step 5. I brought in about an inch of charcoal on top of my gravel layer.

Step 6. I brought in 2-3 inches of potting soil on top of the charcoal layer.

Step 7. In went my plants into the potting soil…

Step 8. And then simply for lively, I grabbed Bambi’s nephew Bob and stuck him in there.

Step 9. I gently misted the plants with water (ok, I dunked my hand in a bowl of it and splashed the inside of the terrarium a few times) and then I sealed everything up and called it good.

So far it has been over a week and my little folks have been troopers. No drooping (they in fact look a little happier than they were in their plastic Home Depot containers) but not a whole lot of action either (there has not been a ton of Titanic-esque glass-fogging or anything like that). The jury is still out on whether this will end up being a cold and lonely tomb for them to leave this world, or a glad little place for them to hang out. I will keep you posted. In the meantime I’d enjoy any and all terrarium pointers since you folks did me right with those cacti.

Update: Hilariously sufficient, thanks to my Instagram feed I learned that Michael over at Inspired by Charm made a similar terrarium from a RedEnvelope kit for $79 yesterday! So you can check his out as a ready-to-assemble alternative. Also, his photos are remarkable, and his dome is blinged out in gold. Me-ow.