Bringing the outdoors indoors

Published 9:00 am Monday, April 30, 2018

For those who want to know that their carbon dioxide is being converted into oxygen inside the comfort of their own homes (or for those with an affinity for houseplants), your terrarium can serve as a small-scale indoor garden. It’s ideal for those who like a low-maintenance, living centerpiece or a little pop of green hanging around.

What you will need:

Glass container of your choice (If you’d like your terrarium to act like a greenhouse, mimicking Earth’s environment by creating condensation from the water that filters through the soil and rocks, choose a container that has a lid or uses only a small opening.)
Rocks
Activated charcoal
Sterilized potting soil
Small plants (succulents encouraged)
Moss (optional)

: Start with a clean glass container. Add approximately an inch-worth of rocks to the bottom. The rocks help with soil drainage.

: Top the layer of rocks with approximately 1/2 inch of charcoal. If you’d like conveniently powdered activated charcoal, consider ordering it online. For the impatient creatives, your best bet is to purchase activated charcoal capsules from the vitamin or pharmacy section and pull them open in true DIY fashion. Warning: this is both tedious and messy, so I would suggest doing this over newspaper. The activated charcoal acts as a filtration layer.

: The next layer is your potting soil. I used potting soil aimed specifically for cacti and succulents, but you have options here. Fill your terrarium up to half full, and make sure to give your plants plenty of root space. It’s plant time! Make sure you allow your plants some room to breathe and grow when spacing.

: It’s plant time! NASA Climate Kids recommends teasing the roots apart as you plant to remove some old soil and ensure the plants fit well in the terrarium.

: Excavate little indentations for your plants and pat down the surface after they’ve been swaddled in soil. Be careful! Succulent leaves are hardy plants, but delicate when handled. If you use moss, this is the time to fill in space with that material. You can also add additional decorations.