DIY Terrarium: Now is the time!

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Yep, we all have some extra time on our hands right now. It makes a DIY terrarium the perfect way to fill an afternoon. If you are looking for projects to do with your children, this is a good one!

While I titled this “DIY Terrarium” it probably could also be called “Terrarium Refresh” or “Replanting a Terrarium” because this was an old terrarium that needed a new look. After more than three years sitting on my desk it was time!

As you can see this terrarium is sad, S-A-D! I decided to scrap everything, including the pepperomia with the green and white leaves. With more tropical and water loving plants to go in here it didn’t seem like it would do well in the moist environment.

Plants for a DIY terrarium

I was surprised to find that our home improvement store had a really nice selection of small, 2″ size tropical plants.

For this DIY terrarium, I used (left to right): Strawberry Begonia (Saxifraga stolonifera), Butterfly Plant (Syngonium sp.), and Creeping Fig (Ficus repens). Its kind of amazing that I am using creeping fig here when we used to have it as a major part of our landscape in Florida!

How to put together your terrarium

I left most of the soil in my DIY terrarium from the previous plants rather than taking everything out. The charcoal was still in the bottom, so I simple made a small hole to pop the plant in.

I have to be honest, I was hoping this project would take longer than it did! It only took about 10 minutes to get these small plants in their new home. I did add fresh potting soil between the plants to help smooth it out and also add some new growing media.

I thought that my DIY terrarium looked like it was missing something, so I collected some small bunching mosses from outside. I haven’t done this before so it is an experiment! I place the mosses on top of the soil (no planting) and they seem to be holding up well.

The final step was adding a little bit of gravel as topdressing. I actually used chicken grit, which is a crushed granite, because I had it on hand but any small pebbles, seashells or even marbles would work well. I think this gives it a polished look!

As I sit at my desk writing about this project I am so glad to finally have it done! My DIY terrarium project was quick and easy and I hope that it will last another three years.

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