Now that Christmas 2013 is all wrapped up I can reveal the Christmas Terrariums!
Every year, we like to make recycled, repurposed Christmas presents for our friends and family. Not only do making gifts usually save money, but the gift recipients get an awesome creative, one-of-a-kind handmade gift. I put all kinds of love in my handmade gifts and I enjoy receiving handmade gifts as well, because of the love that is put into them!Keith and I scoured the local flea markets and antique malls for interesting jars and containers. We tried to get containers personally suited to each person on our Christmas list. Keith was really into this project and thinking outside the box or... should I say jar! He was on fire with great terrarium ideas! For example it was his idea to use an old glass cocktail shaker for our nephew that has a bar.
Terrariums are so easy to make and so easy to maintain - because terrariums are self-contained environments. It's a little ecosystem! The plants make their own moisture.
The first one I made was the large mason jar with the metal closure on top. I put a layer of aquarium pebbles or gravel on the bottom of the jar. About 1/4" deep. This gravel layer is for drainage since there are no holes in the jar. You don't want the plants' roots to get waterlogged and rot so this is a very important layer.
The next very important layer is activated charcoal. This is to help the plants to breath. On top of the charcoal add the fresh, clean potting soil. Plant your plants in the potting soil - don't over plant because the plants do grow! Try not to have the plants touch the glass. Pick out small healthy plants, maybe two or three depending on the size of the container. If they get too big - take them out and replace with a new small, baby plant.
You can next put a layer of moss or I sprinkled a few colored marbles instead. I chose blue to match the gravel - because part of the beauty of a terrarium is seeing all the layers!
And for the final touch, I added a little Wade pottery animal figurine - just for fun! I didn't realize until I started picking them out for these terrariums that I have quite a sizable collection of these figurines; they used to come in the box of Red Rose tea bags.
I watered it just a little bit before I closed it up. Set your terrarium in indirect light; don't put it in a window it will get too hot; if the jar gets steamed up; just open it up for a couple minutes to clear.
For some of the terrariums I used a layer of small white rocks for drainage and a sprinkling of small seashells on top of the soil.
We will probably being making more terrariums because there are so many potential terrarium containers out there!
