Terrariums!

This is my front section before we moved in. Not so great right. Needs alot of work, a new roof and to get rid of that nasty gravel. Clearly a rental property. 
But it has a porch! A beautiful biiiig window and an enclosed porch, oh the potential. 
I digress, this is not about my house, this is about Terrariums! Yep, those little gardens in glass containers oh so cute!

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This is it now. Not finished yet, but getting there. One of my favourite parts is my wee Terrariums on the Porch window. This blog/tutorial is about them and how to make your own.

The Terrariums. I did some windowsill ones and some hanging ones in the window.

How neat are they! I think I have a new obsession! I really want some larger ones around the house :D 

Supplies:
Large piece of driftwood
String
Clean empty glass jars (I just saved up jam jars etc etc, cleaned them up and removed the labels. A bit of Meths gets rid of any stubborn residue)
Soil
Sphagnum moss (optional but recommended)
Assorted plants with roots - you can buy some various small plants from the garden centre or just go for a walk and pick some weeds, make sure you get the roots. 
Moss and Lychen (optional but recommended) - again you can walk around your neighbourhood and find these things, moss in damp shady places and Lichen growing on rocks and tree trunks. 

Method:
It is really very easy and simple. 

1. First up we went for a trip to the beach with the kids and found a large suitable piece of driftwood. 

2. Then we went to the nursery and bought some wee flowering plants that you would use in a cottage garden. We looked at air plants but they were very expensive. We also picked up some potting mix and a bag of sphagnum moss from the nursery. 

3. In the afternoon we walked around the neighbourhood and helped ourselves to a few clumps of moss and some lychen aswell as a few wild growing 'weeds' that looked pretty and were the right size for our jars. We ended up using mostly the 'weeds' and not alot of the purchased plants

4. To decorate the jars tie a wee piece of string around the neck in a double knot. I left a bit on either end and frayed it 

5. For the windowsill jars, using a hot glue gun wrap some more string around the neck, gluing in places to keep together. 

6. For the hanging jars get a length of string, wrap it around the neck of the jar and tie a figure 8 knot, then create a loop to the desired length and do the same again but tie the knot off on the opposite side to the first knot.

Your jars are ready to decorate. 

Assemble your foliage for ease of reference. 

Place Sphagnum moss at the bottom of the jar, then some potting mix and then delicately place the foliage/moss/lychen covered pebbles/wood as desired. 

7. Wrap the string around the piece of drift wood and double knot (figure 8 knot). Create a loop to hang it from.. 
Do this at both ends

8. Hang the wood in desired location and attache hanging jars. 

Done :D Easy peasy. I hope this tutorial helps a little bit and provides some inspiration :) Happy Terrariuming!