Trial and Error

Today, my big project with the kids was making terrariums. I got this idea when I was outside the other day looking at our embarrassing side yard. We had initially planted lawn on the side with stepping stones and a few flower boxes that held strawberry plants - but it didn't have a good winter and it got bogged down and not a lot of sun.

So this weekend, I went out there to assess the damage. The strawberry plants are no longer in the planter boxes, but outside of the planter boxes where the lawn used to be. They are doing great though and Robbie has already tasted his first strawberry that he planted himself. For now, we will let the strawberries stay there. But in between strawberries, instead of grass is various forms of moss. They really are very pretty. Although, they aren't the pretty green grass we had intended.

With all the various moss types, I thought it would be fun to try to make a terrarium to house them in so the kids could each have a little bit of green inside. Of course, I should have done my homework and learned at least a little about them before I started... but I figure the kids and I will learn together about what works and what doesn't. Besides, I have tons of moss to experiment with.

I found two glass jars with lids at Value Village during my tshirt hunt. Alyssa's (the smaller one) has a cork top and is perfect... just a little squat so the plants are a little harder to see. It was also the first one we did... so we had lots of rocks on the bottom and dirt... we probably could have cut both down just a bit and allowed a little more room to see what's in it. Like I said though, trial and error.

Lyssie made hers first while Robbie was engrossed in the Internet. I made her search for all the tiny pebbles that we used on the bottom (for Robbie's, I went and bought them). Finding the rocks was a long process... but it did keep her busy. I then put some soil from the good soil in a few of my flower gardens. And finally, we went to the side yard and chose a few different varieties of moss. To make it a little more interesting, we also added a few rocks.

Both kids love them... Robbie wants to add an animal :) His first suggestion was a worm... then an ant. I now have him convinced that the little "enclosure" (he plays Zoo Tycoon) is best just for plants.

I'll keep you posted on how they do. Both kids sprayed them with water and now we will leave them alone for several weeks (provided they last that long). If you have any experience with these little things, I'd love to hear your tips. Or, feel free to point out where we went wrong. I could read more on them, but I'm happy learning along with the kids.