Urban Garden Casual » Create a Glass Terrarium

terranium By Vanessa Richins

Sometimes the only place you have to garden is a windowsill or tabletop.

One way to maximize your potential is to build a glass terrarium.

You can buy premade kits or you can recycle old glass (or plastic) into your own beautiful indoor garden.

The San Francisco Chronicle explains that terrariums have been used for almost 180 years now:

“In her book [The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature], Tovah Martin explains the roots of the terrarium: In 1831, when British surgeon Nathaniel Ward picked a fern, stuck it in a bottle and forgot about it. Several months later, the fern was thriving and grass had sprouted in the enclosed container - without any cultivation or watering from Ward. Twenty years later, Ward’s enclosed biosphere was put on display at the 1851 World’s Fair in London, and so-called Wardian cases became a fad.”

I had heard of Wardian cases before, but didn’t recall that they had been created so long ago. It’s amazing that under the right conditions, a plant can survive with little care.

Are you ready to build your own terrarium? Never fear – we have Youtube! Monkeyseevideos has several great videos on how to create a glass terrarium and care for it.

I found another video on how to make your own glass terrarium. It also has tips on watering your plants.

I am going to head to some of my local thrift stores and see if I can find any glassware that would work well. I may also go in search of chemistry beakers, which was one especially intriguing piece of glass mentioned in the Chronicle article.

Have you made your own terrariums?