Learn how to make a terrarium to add easy-to-care-for greenery to your space.

Science has definitively proven that houseplants can improve the quality of the air in the home by reducing ozone and helping to eliminate VOCs. House plants can also improve your mood, especially during the long winter months when we are all stuck inside. And many people find caring for plants to be therapeutic–much like caring for a pet.

But what if you don’t have a green thumb? Some of us just are not natural plant people and pretty much kill all plants that enter into our abodes. How can us non-gardener types reap the benefits of indoor plants? With DIY terrariums, that’s how. Terrariums are a lower maintenance alternative to add plants to your home.

What is a Terrarium?

Image: Terrarium via Shutterstock

Terrariums are self-contained little mini-gardens. They are usually housed in decorative glass containers that can be opened to allow for care of the plants inside. Terrariums can either be open to the atmosphere or closed. Sealed terrariums need less watering as the transparency of the glass container, and the closed environment, allows for small scale water cycle to happen. In addition, a closed terrarium allows for the use of plants that like moist, humid conditions like moss, ferns, and air plants. Terrarium that are kept open are better suited for plants that like drier conditions, like succulents and cacti, if you are looking for low maintenance.

Learn How to Make a Terrarium

Open terrarium supplies:

• Open glass container
• Rocks or pebbles
• Potting soil
• Sand
• Succulents

How to make a terrarium:

1. Place a layer of rocks in the bottom of your container. This is to help the plants drain. How deep you layer the rocks really depends on the height your container, but ½ inch to 1 inch is a good rule of thumb.
2. Next, add potting soil (it should be suitable for succulents). Your soil layer should be deep enough for the plants to take root in. Again, a good rule of thumb is about 2-3 inches, depending on your plants.
3. Plant your succulents to create a visually appealing arrangement, allowing room between the plants and the glass.
4. Add sand around the base of the plants to help give them support and for a little visual interest. You can also add a layer of sand before adding the stones, if you want to create a little more visual interest.
5. Finally, you can add accessories, like pottery mushrooms or decorative rocks, to create a creative look for your terrarium.

You can find plants and supplies at most garden supply stores. I like Terrain and Etsy for sourcing decorative containers and other terrarium accessories for how to make a terrarium.

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Image: Terrariums via Shutterstock

The post How to Make a Terrarium Even If You Don’t Have a Green Thumb appeared first on EcoSalon.

Let’s get creative, folks! As the summer months are racing to the finish line (slow down already, for the love of ice pops and flip flops, sheesh!), don’t spend them in the garden of boring. To end your craft-tastic summer with a fun bang, we’ve rounded up our list of planter ideas using some of the most funky and unusual items we could find. Martha Stewart would be so proud!

Funky Planter Ideas

1. Old Floppy Disk Planter

Listen, technology isn’t just digital anymore and floppy disks are not obsolete, contrary to what you may have been told. You can prove it to all of  your pals too by making some of these quirky little floppy disk planters. Who’s the smarty-pants now?? This is a fantastic way to reuse an old object that would otherwise be tossed out for the cooler, sleeker, keychain-size USB stick. All you really need to make them is glue and maybe a small square box if you need a guide to build around. So floppies, don’t cry! You still serve an important purpose… On a sunny windowsill next to someone’s brand new MacBook.

2. Mini Cork Magnet Planter

Now we’re not trying to condone excess drinking over the weekend (or are we?). Really though, think about it for a minute. After a grueling work-week, you know you’re going to let loose with your ladies and probably get a little friendly with one or three bottles of wine. Instead of throwing out all your cork tops from weekends current and past, hang on to ‘em and recycle them into little homes for some baby succulents! Glue a magnet onto them and VOILA! Your refrigerator just got a whole lot snazzier. You can now justify drinking like a fish because you’re playing your renewable part in society.

3. French Press Terrarium

Where are all the coffee lovers at?! This one’s for you. Nothing like a good cup of joe to get those inventive juices flowing, are we right? French presses are the bomb-dot-com, so why stifle their amazingness by just utilizing them for coffee! Spread a little whimsy in your kitchen by creating a teeny, tiny, enchanted world for your countertop.

4. Repurposed Dresser Planter

Instead of growing a wardrobe, give back to Mother Nature and let your garden grow. Repurposing an old dresser for gardening is definitely one of the most unusual items used as a planter, but so lovely when done right! Finding a used dresser is pretty easy too. See if your neighbors are chucking any treasures or scour a local antique shop. Sand it, paint it, re-finish it, the design approaches are endless. You’re bound to stumble upon one fit for a fashionable fairy princess.

5. Retro Stereo Planter

Get all “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” with yourself and break out that boombox to bump some flowery beats. Hell, the idea of a boombox used as a planter makes us want to get all “Carlton Banks” with ourselves, how about you? Whoever it was that imagined this grand idea, we seriously commend you. Stereos are certainly unusual items used as planters, but we’re sure glad that some talented genius could potentially be saving hundreds of these archaic gems from littering landfills where they can now instead sing some sweet sustainable tunes.

6. Gumball Machine Terrarium

Terrariums are too cool so we had to throw another one on the list. Let your inner child get its hands dirty by transforming a simple gumball machine into a mini sphere of life. Gumball machines are the absolute perfect size and shape, inexpensive, and relatively easy to find. However, we don’t recommended stealing candy from a baby, catch our drift? That would just be mean. So trade your sweet tooth for a green thumb! You’ll be so glad you did.

So much DIY, so little summer left! So hop to it and start getting crafty! What are your favorite planter ideas?

Related on EcoSalon

Sumptuous Succulent Plants: Fatten Up Your Garden and Home with the Plants Du Jour

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Gardens in Glass: Make Your Own Upcycled Terrarium

Images via Pinterest

The post 6 Planter Ideas Using Funky and Unusual Items appeared first on EcoSalon.

If plants can be trendy, then succulent plants are the hot plant du jour.

Succulents are plants that have thick and fleshy leaves, stems or root, and they are also called “Fat Plants”. Native to arid regions, these plump and juicy beauties adapted to lower precipitation levels by developing fleshy bits making it easy for them to retain water. You might be thinking about cacti right now and cactus are a type of spiny succulent, but not all succulent plants are cacti. The allure of growing succulents for many, besides their gorgeously plump appearance, is that they can be quite hardy–or at least for those who don’t necessarily sport a green thumb.

As the trend for succulents grows (pun intended), they have been showing up in magazine spreads, at wedding receptions as centerpieces and home and gardening stores across the country. There’s just something about those plump plants that really seems to have captured people’s gardening spirit. They’re the Audrey Hepburn of the plant world: charming, chic, stunning and down-to-earth all in one.

There is something about succulent plants that make them very touchable–with their often smooth outer skin–and they can  also be quite exotic looking. They can vary greatly in color, have spines, be spiky, have stripes and more.

Succulent Plants in Your Home

Etsy is a great place to visit if you like the look of those succulent succulents, but don’t really want to get your hands dirty. Here’s a few ready to order potted succulent plants to add to your home.

Image: RootedInSucculents

A pretty succulent centerpiece for your home.

Image: FlathersCreations

Terrariums are good homes for succulent plants.

Image: BottleGardens

We love this tequila bottle succulent planter.

Succulent DIY

And if you like getting your hands dirty, head off to your nearest garden shop for supplies. Here are a few resources to get you started with planting your own.

• Top 10 Succulent Plants for the Home – a great list of some old favorites and more exotic varieties.

• Vertical Garden – for those with frost-free winters, plant a vertical outdoor garden of succulents.

• Succulent Terrariums – and for those who better not leave their succulents outdoors during winter, terrariums are ideal.

• Container Succulents – succulents are ideal for container planting.

Related on Ecosalon

The Green Appointed House: 15 Ways to Decorate With Plants

17 Clever Repurposed Garden Planters to Add More Plants to Your Space

Modern Greenery: 6 Stylish New Ways to Keep Indoor House Plants

top image: vic xia

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