Cold Leaves and Moss Terrariums

It's been a crazy few days. Went to see Doug Stanhope in Baltimore on Thursday which was really awesome. He's a really vulgar comedian that makes hilarious and socially relevant points that you can't help but agree with. Been doing some knitting too and spending some time outside since this is one of the first actually cold days. It actually feels like fall now. The air has a cold bite to it and the sun has been mostly overcast which cast a cool light on all my photos. Normally I touch them up a wee bit but it was unnecessary. Today felt like an outside craft day so I decided to try my hand at a moss terrarium. Basically what a terrarium does is provide a mini ecosystem for the plant. It creates its own humidity within a container. I used a good sized glass jar from the thrift store. It's always handy to pick up jars if they're large and cheap especially since I find uses for them all the time.
First I cleaned the entire interior of the jar with some bleach since you want to deter mold as much as possible. Then I put a layer of small gravel rocks, about an inch high, on the bottom of the jar to produce drainage. I got the moss from my backyard. I dug it up using a trowel and got the dirt from the same place as the moss. Something about the acidity in the dirt.

Then you water it but not too much. And that's pretty much it, or so says the internet. I really hope it goes well, because I'd love to do a Venus fly trap terrarium as well. When I lived in an apartment by myself about 3 years ago I had several Venus fly traps but I could never keep them alive because I didn't know the best way to regulate their moisture. I tried a lot of things and most of them failed. Now I'm excited at the prospect of such compact and easy container gardening.

Look at how beautiful that moss looks with all those little leaves. So neat.