Make a miniature mossarium
A terrarium is a miniature garden which is grown inside a, usually sealed, glass or clear container. A mossarium is a terrarium built exclusively with moss. Building a mossarium, is really fun - it’s like creating your own mini world! It’s also great for exploring different mosses as well as learning about the water cycle.
Terrariums aren’t just miniature gardens; they’re small-scale ecosystems. With warmth, moisture evaporates from the soil and plants, it then condenses on the terrarium roof and walls. Once enough water accumulates or the temperature decreases, the condensation will then ‘rain’ down the sides of the container back into the soil.
What you will need:
A small, clear jar or bottle with a lid such as a spice jar, mini jam jar or, for a really tiny mossarium, you could use the bottles from the Mud & Bloom May box!
Small stones/gravel for a drainage layer
Any kind of soil
Optional: Activated charcoal
A selection of mosses
Optional: Decorative stones or bark (or anything else you want to add)
Depending on how wide the opening of your jar or bottle is, you may need some tools such as long tweezers, a paintbrush or a chopstick to help you put everything in place,
Spray bottle
What you need to do:
First you’ll need to gather some moss. If you look in shady or damp areas of your garden, in the gaps between paving slabs, on walls or on the bases of trees, you should find a few different types. You will only need a really small amount.
I was amazed at how different the mosses I collected were! Some were low growing like a carpet, some were thick and fluffy and I even found some that looked like little palm trees! I have since discovered that over 1,000 species of moss grow throughout the UK and over 10,000 species worldwide.
If you have a magnifying glass, you could use it to have a closer look at the mosses and see if you can spot some of the differences between them.
If you can’t use the moss straightaway, pop it in a sealed container which should keep it moist for a few days.
To make the mossarium, you’ll first need to add a drainage layer to your jar or bottle by adding some small stones. Mosses thrive in high-moisture environments and this drainage layer will allow water to collect at the bottom which will help keep the humidity levels in your mossarium stable.
If you have any activated charcoal, you can add some here as it helps to prevent mould and provides an additional layer of filtration but it is not essential.
Now you can add a layer of soil. I used the coir which comes in the Mud & Bloom boxes but any kind of soil would work.
You can shape the layer of soil, by creating a slope for example, using a paintbrush. Gently firm down the soil and then spray with a little water to help it stay in place.
If you’re using a bottle, then you might need to use a chopstick or the flat end of a skewer or similar to push the soil down the neck of the bottle!
Depending on the size of your bottle or jam jar you might be able to include several different species of moss. Think about how you might like to arrange them - perhaps the tallest ones at the back and the lower growing mosses at the front.
Unlike most other plants, mosses don’t have roots. Instead they use threadlike rhizoids to anchor themselves to rock, bark or soil. So you can simple place your mosses on the surface of your soil and firm down gently with a chopstick or a paintbrush so it is fully in contact with the soil. To place the tree moss, I used a skewer to make an indentation in the soil first for it to sit to help it stay upright until it establishes itself in the terrarium.
If space is tight, a long pair of tweezers is really handy for putting the moss in place!
Now you can add any stones, pieces of bark or other decorative items. I kept mine simple with a single piece of bark.
Now spray your mosses lightly with water until you can see some moisture down in the pebble layer. You want the soil to be damp but not wet or saturated.
Screw on the lid and then place your mossarium somewhere where it receives indirect light. A north-facing windowsill is great or a room where the mossarium receives some bright light, however, it must be away from any direct light.
You will need to water your terrarium every few weeks. Use a spray bottle to ensure that the water is evenly distributed across the moss.
You will see that the mossarium sometimes looks slightly hazy which means that the mossarium is nice and humid. However, if you start to see large droplets of moisture forming on the glass which doesn’t clear, or the soil looks soggy, take the lid off for a few hours to let some moisture escape.
Author: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys