I love plants. Having something green at my desk cheers me up immensely. Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb. No matter how determined I am to care for plants, they seem to die on me. (The only exception was a plant I received from Seed as a press gift. It somehow managed to last over a year except that it started out being two strong stems with 12 to 15 leaves and now there's only one stem with 5 drooping leaves so I don't have high hopes for the poor thing.)

I am determined to find a way to solve this problem and no, plastic plants aren't the answer. After some digging, I was told that moss terrariums are amazingly easy to take care off and you would have to actually work at killing them. Supposedly, you only need to water them every month as the lid seals off the moisture and it becomes a small ecosystem.

There are countless cute moss terrariums to be found on Etsy ranging from US$20 to US$300 but they only ship within the US so I decided to make my own and now I can't decide how to decorate it. Should I go with the picnic setting or the mossroom? For something Christmasy try using glass ornaments and putting the moss inside.



What you'll need:
gravel or glass beads (HK$10 at Jusco)
potting soil (HK$6)
moss (HK$45 at a flower store near The Pawn in Wanchai)
glass jar (I used an old Yankee Candle jar but any glass jar with a lid would do)
decorations (these miniature sushi, chopsticks and green tea are available at City Super for HK$30, the mushroom those capsule toy machines for HK$5)

Instructions
1. Place the gravel/ glass beads at the bottom of the jar for drainage
2. Add about 1 inch of moist potted soil
3. Layer the moss on top, feel free to squish as much as you can into the jar for a nice thick carpet.
4. Spray the moss with some water
5. Add the decoration
6. Close lid

And there you go! A simple, green garden sitting on your desktop. Now fingers crossed that I won't kill this terrarium!