• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Hannah Grows

Getting you growing

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Stuff I dig
  • About Hannah
  • Contact

How to make an Open Terrarium

January 8, 2017

I’ve made a couple of open terrariums recently and here are some tips that might help you get started. I think it’s a lot easier to make an open terrarium (a vessel which is partially open and allows air flow) rather than a closed terrarium (which creates a micro-climate within the vessel). Closed terrariums require trickier to source items like activated charcoal to purify what can quickly become a funky environment, so I’ve kept it simple and easy with an open terrarium.

What you need to make an open terrarium:

equipment for planting an open terrarium

  1. A suitable glass vessel: classic terrariums can be found online but they can also be pricey. I’ve made some in jam jars and lanterns and they work just as well.
  2. Some potting grit or gravel, ideally 5mm aggregates in a colour you like. I found that searching for horticultural potting grit online eventually found me a bag of what I needed. People sell kits on Etsy and Ebay but I think they are very expensive.
  3. Compost with good drainage. You can buy special cacti and succulent compost but I’ve gotten by with simple peat free compost. If you have leaf mould at home then great! If you have some sand or potting grit you can mix into the compost then great too! This will all help improve drainage. Also when you buy your plants, you may notice there are white bits in the compost, this is most likely perlite, which is used as I’m sure you have now guessed, to improve drainage!
  4. Plants.  An open terrarium lends itself well to plants that like a dry environment, cue your succulents and cacti. There are many different varieties, but some of my favourites are: Echeveria, Sedum, Aloes, and Crassula. This are often available in florists and garden centres but can also be bought online. Try to get very young, small plants as then you can have some different varieties on show in your terrarium.
  5. Invest in a mister or clean out and reuse a household spray. It’s the easiest and best way to water your terrarium.

Tips on how to create your open terrarium:

adding grit and soil to the open terrarium

Its obvious, but first make sure the plants you want actually fit in the vessel, and with a bit of space between them! Once you are happy with your layout, spoon in a generous layer of grit into the bottom of your vessel. Then spoon in your compost, make sure it’s deep enough to accommodate the roots of the plant you wish to put in. You can use the spoon to make a planting hole, before lowering in your plant. If the roots are way too long, don’t despair, you can trim them to fit, but remember the plant isn’t going to love it so only do it if you need to. Once in, press down gently with your fingers to help anchor the plant, and make sure the roots are safely under the compost, you can add a bit compost if needed. I normally give the plant a little mist at this point.

building an open terrarium

Start to spoon your potting grit around your plants. This has a dual function, providing a top dressing which will help your plant stay dry and prevent rotting off, it also looks nicer than compost! I do this as I go because it’s less messy than doing it all at the end once the plants are in.

completed open terrarium

Once everything is in, give it a mist and then wipe down the sides with a cloth. I added a few shells that I found on a beach to this terrarium, so if personalisation is your thing, go for it! Place your terrarium in a position that will receive ample light, but not direct sunlight, remember it’s in a glass vessel. Use your mister to give it a water, I think once a week should do it. In time your plants will likely out grow your vessel, but you can always replant it. You can help things, by removing offsets as they grow in late spring, and you can even propagate these. I’ll be back with a video to show you how to do this when the time comes.

Good luck and please get in touch with any further questions you might have, or even better photos of terrariums you’ve made yourself. I’m really enjoying mine and it’s certainly brightening up a slightly grey January.

Hannah x

  • Share this post: share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google+

Filed Under: cactus, house plants, indoor plants, propagation, sempervivums, succulents, terrariums, winter

Previous Post: « Houseplants made easy: The Cactus
Next Post: Plant up a winner for Mother’s Day »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About Hannah Grows

Hannah Grows is a blog edited by Hannah Schlotter, showing you that growing plants is for everyone, not just experts! Find out more or email Hannah.

What I’m talking about

annuals bulbs cactus calendula container daffodils edible flowers featured flowers gift grow wild herbs house plants indoor plants lavender narcissi native plants perennial pollinators poppies propagation pruning re-potting seeds seed saving sempervivums september small garden sowing succulents summer terrariums thinning out Uncategorized viola wildflowers window box winter

Stuff I dig

Music I'm planting to:

Click here to see more things I dig...

You can find me here too

  • Bloglovin
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • YouTube

My instagram diary

  • We are very happy to introduce Zinnia Rose Amanda Akehurst Zinny for short! - the reason there hasn’t been much gardening content this year - but definitely worth it . Sending love to all those trying to start families - we know from personal experience it’s not always a straightforward journey
  • Thank you @gudrunlondon for gifting me this beautiful blue coatigan (yes that’s a thing!) which is made from 50% recycled cotton and 50% organic cotton. I’m in love with the colour . Here are a few things you can be doing in the garden right now . feed your garden with compost! I use peat free green waste compost to mulch beds now. If you’ve harvested from your beds all summer it’s time to give back to them. If you have precious homemade compost I save that and add a pinch into holes when planting . once it dries out
  • FORAGING WALK & LUNCH: after sharing his knowledge and culinary skills with us in Spring, @littlewildcatering will be returning in the Autumn! . On Sunday 24th October, 11.30am-2.30pm join us for a walk around the fields and woodland gills of Modern Barn Farm where Dave will identify a wide range of plants and forage some edible treats which you’ll be able to try in a shared lunch. . Bring suitable clothes for being outside, and we can pick you up from Battle station if needed. The cost is £40pp including a light foraged lunch. . DM to book your space
  • Mmmmmmm BREAD! @littlewildcatering experienced Baker and chef is coming back to Modern Barn Farm to teach his bread course. . Learn to make 3 types of bread: sourdough, ciabatta, and rye. Dave will show you how to create and maintain a sourdough starter and how to avoid common home baking mistakes! You’ll take home your freshly baked creations and knock up some pizza to eat whilst you learn. . Come and Bake on Saturday 23rd October, 2pm start (3+hrs course) £60pp. We can collect you from Battle station if arriving by train. DM to book your space #bread #baking #sourdough
  • Happy 1st wedding anniversary @indiefarmer A year that felt like 10. Full of love and loss, a year like no other. Thanks for being a ray of sunshine by my side when things felt very cloudy. Here’s to the next year ☀️
  • FORAGING WALK: we are excited to welcome @littlewildcatering to @modernbarnfarm on Saturday May 15th! Dave will help unravel the wonders of the woods and field, not only pointing out edibles but helping us to recognise different plants we might not have noticed, and then he will rustle up an al fresco lunch. Sound good? We have a few spaces available, the walk and lunch is from 11-2pm and is £35 (including food). Drop us a DM to book your place
  • So much joy from watching these little succulents grow from a single leaf from the mother plant . Just pick off a leaf, place it on top of some compost, water occasionally, watch the plant work its magic . I’ll be potting these little beauts on now, with a peat free compost and some grit
  • How to eat the best of your bolting salad and kale
  • Sunset salad picking thanks @samsamayre for making life look more romantic than it is, but the salad sure tastes good right now

© 2022 HANNAH GROWS · WEBSITE BY Your Techie VA