I’ve long been a huge fan of plants in the home, they make you feel calm, are great for your health and create a stylish interior. The trend to style up your space with a wide variety of Instagram friendly greens is not going anywhere, and thanks to Pinterest our love for terrariums and plants is at an all time high, even if we’re making them all wrong!
So when I was invited to SkyGarden by Finnish Gardening gurus, Fiskers to shake off my gardening fears and get some advice from TV Celebrity Botanist, James Wong, to make my very own terrarium, I couldn’t wait to learn some new skills and pass them onto you lovely lot.
If you’re not familiar with the SkyGarden it’s a stunning space on the 37th floor overlooking the London skyline where you can grab a bite to eat amongst an urban jungle. The perfect place to learn how to make a terrarium that will last longer than six weeks!
HOW TO MAKE A TERRARIUM
It turns out that a lot of the terrariums we see looking gorgeous will most likely die after six weeks due to a few basic rules being broken. Who knew! So thankfully we had step by step instructions on how to get it right.Use The Right Tools
Forget those fancy shaped pyramid terrariums, your plants will need some height. Think glass bowl, square cube or cylindrical vase with plenty of room!
How To Get Started
I chose a glass bowl around 25 cm high and started off by adding clay pebbles called Hyrdoleca to the base ensuring to cover bottom. Turns out this is important if you want your plants to live.
Next use a good potting soil and add a generous amount to cover the drainage pebbles, think 30mm and get creative. I decided to create an unloved surface to add an interesting terrain to my design.
Pick the Right Plants
If this was left up to me I would have no idea, but James explained that you need to choose plants that are naturally small, not young plants. So mini ferns and moss are a good place to start! Also avoid sun loving plants such a cacti, as the glass will filter the UV meaning they will most likely perish.
Get Creative
As well as plants we were given the option of rock, spiderwood branches and different coloured gravel as well as air plants to create interesting themes to our terrariums. I decided to opt for a ‘miniature oasis’, using rock to create height and wood to attach the airplanes to using fine metal wire, leaving a clearing with moss.
There were so many brilliant designs and it was great to see how different everyone’s were so different, from forest floors to Australian outback, I particularly loved the Palm Spring inspired terrarium by Flat 15.
Terrarium Tips!
Don’t forget to make sure you cover ALL the soil either using gravel or moss, this is important in not only the design but helping the plants survive.
Lastly keep out of direct sunlight, sure fire way to frazzle your beautiful terrarium and kill everything off. It’s best to place in it a sunny room but in the shade.
TA DA!
Fiskars’ vision is to create a positive, lasting impact on our quality of life and to remove some of the fear around gardening with their products. So you should be able to make your own terrarium for a stylish interior. Now that I have the basic skills I can’t wait to make a few of these for friends as gifts!
Have you ever made a terrarium? I’d love to hear your experience!
Fiskars are kindly giving away a Fiskars Gardening Tool Bundle set which consist of PowerGearX Pruners & PowerGearX Loopers. Perfect for those of you keen to get the garden in shape this Autumn. You can enter below and a winner will be chosen at random.
PIN THIS EASY DIY TUTORIAL
*T&C Prize: A Fiskars Gardening Tool Bundle consisting of PowerGearX Pruners & PowerGearX Loopers. You must be a UK resident to be eligible for this competition; Free UK delivery will apply for your purchase; This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value; No cash alternatives to the stated prize will be offered. By entering this competition you are subscribing to the Wild & Grizzly E-Newsletter.
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*This was post was written in collaboration with Fiskers. All words and opinions are my own.
lots of Autumn crocuses
ReplyDeleteI'd love someone to get rid of the bamboos that come under the fence from next door - pulling / digging them up nearly kills me, they're so tough!!
ReplyDeleteA Gardener
ReplyDeleteHaving someone else to pick up all the leaves!
ReplyDeleteSome plant colour to contrast with fallen leaves.
ReplyDeleteLeaves that put themselves into the green bin
ReplyDeletehaving some help
ReplyDeleteLots of gorgeous autumnal plants
ReplyDeleteLots of solar lights with some left over Chives that I like to garnish my stews with.
ReplyDeleteA strong back, to do the digging more easily.
ReplyDeleteLots of acers, giving yellow, gold and red colours.
ReplyDeleteLots of plants with colourful autumn leaves.
ReplyDeleteA sunken bench, cut from an old tree! Like a big chunk of wood!
ReplyDeletesome nice solar lights going down the path
ReplyDeleteHaving a lawn without weeds that would look good right through until next spring.
ReplyDeleteA proper garden where I have space for deciduous trees and their autumn leaves, rather than a cramped balcony!
ReplyDeleteA professional gardener with a bulldozer
ReplyDeleteA professional gardner that knows what they're doing.
ReplyDeleteSomeone getting rid of all the weeds out of my veggie patch for me.
ReplyDeleteI would like to not feel sad because wintyer has come so winter plants that offer colour and interest
ReplyDeletei would love it to be colourful, and sheltered in some way so i could still sit out there.
ReplyDeleteLots of rustic orange crispy leafs covering my whole garden would be absolutely lovely!
ReplyDeleteTrees that don’t lose their leaves, just change colour
ReplyDeleteLots of golden, red and brown leaves everywhere, and rich red berry bushes.
ReplyDeletea nice exciting water feature with lots of aquatic plants
ReplyDeleteA cooking apple tree :-)
ReplyDeletelots of Acers and their beautiful colours
ReplyDeleteTo get it landscaped
ReplyDeleteI'd love a little summerhouse so I could still enjoy the garden on cold and wet days
ReplyDeleteLots of different colour leaves
ReplyDeleteLots of orange, red and golden leafed plants
ReplyDeleteSomewhere to sit in the warm overlooking the garden
ReplyDeleteA lovely fire pit to get cosy around would be lovely
ReplyDeletejust moved to my 1st place with a garden and even though i have to tackle 95ft of 3ft high brambles and ivy i am loving it. my perfect autumn would be to finish getting all the weeds out to make my garden my own
ReplyDeleteTransform it into tropical paradise, some Yuma plants etc.
ReplyDeleteSomeone to do my garden for me, I don't have green fingers
ReplyDeleteI think some nice ferns would make my Autumn garden
ReplyDeletelots of wildlife
ReplyDeleteSomewhere cosy to sit when I've finished clearing the leaves.
ReplyDeletelots of plants and solar lights
ReplyDeleteA part of the garden that was forever sunny and dry
ReplyDeletemore evergreens its so full and colourful in the summer then so bare later in the year
ReplyDeleteid love some all year colour
Japanese anemones would brighten up my garden this Autumn!
ReplyDeleteColourful plants, trees and shrubbery, with a restful area :- Some comfortable seating, as well as some shelter.
ReplyDeleteRachel Craig
For all of the flowering plants to stay in flower, for longer, in the Autumn.
ReplyDeleteA summer house with heater so I can still sit out and watch the birds and colours changing!!
ReplyDeletefull of winter veg
ReplyDeleteA decked area with firepit so we can enjoy the garden even in colder months
ReplyDeletesome miniature Japanese acer trees as i love the colours they change to in the autumn and winter
ReplyDeleteLots of autumn colours!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to get a tree with some lovely autumn colours and also a heater for sitting outside
ReplyDeleteA firepit would be lovely.
ReplyDeleteSome small acers, love the red and orange colours they bring to the garden
ReplyDeleteFor it to look tidy with minimal leaves!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful cherry tree
ReplyDeleteA lovely wee Summer House would be perfect!
ReplyDeleteOur dream Autumn garden would be filled with beautiful russet and gold colours, a Judas tree, Autumn Crocuses, Cotoneaster and Crab Apples.
ReplyDeleteLots of gorgeous autumnal plants and colours!
ReplyDeleteA nice patio with lights, comfy seats and a posh heater when it gets cold in the evenings
ReplyDeleteJust raked and sacrificed my lawn and now it looks awful so hoping it cones back greener and thicker
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have one of those acers that goes a beautiful red colour
ReplyDelete