Terraria, pt. II, ft. a tutorial
Earlier this year, I got into a terrarium tizzy and made one in a large glass jar. Sadly, it perished over the summer, a victim of mold (the cruelest fate of all). But its spirit lives on in the terraria I made over the weekend.
For your indoor gardening pleasure, I have hastily sketched up a pictorial terrarium tutorial for you.
Edit: I now suggest not putting moss at the bottom of your terrarium, and being judicious about how much you put on top. The moss I've used seems like a breeding ground for mold, unfortunately.
As for the kinds of plants, choose little ones that don't need much water and won't grow large. There are essentially two options: fern-y type plants ($2/ea here) and succulents ($4/ea). There was a specific section for good terrarium plants in the Prairie Gardens store I frequent here in Champaign, but Googling around is very helpful. See: about.com advice, gardeners.com tutorial with pictures, and this lovely book: The New Terrarium. People get super into this and set up tiny scenes in their containers, and in fact Prairie Gardens sold items like Lilliputian bicycles or miniature shovels or the smallest of gnomes. But that crosses the cutesy line for me.
Here's what else I made. My roommates can attest to the high degree of 'tizzy' I got into when I came home from the plant store.
