Did You Know You Can Have A Garden In A Bottle?

Felicite Randall

Gardening in a bottle is a fun, quirky way of adding interest to your indoor garden.

Any large bottle will do, but preferably for your first attempt, one with a large opening for ease of setting up. If you don’t have suitable glass containers at home, I have found great containers at garage sales and my local op. shops.

Fill your bottle with a 1-inch layer of fine gravel and 6-8 inches of good quality potting compost to which you have added a small amount of agricultural charcoal. Charcoal keeps the soil fresh and helps with drainage. The depth will depend on the size of the bottle or jar.

Use a funnel to pour your soil through into the jar. The soil should not be too wet as it may stick to the sides of the vessel and look untidy.

To insert the plants into the bottle you will need a gadget you can make yourself. Tie or tape old spoons or forks (or one of each) to pieces of thin wood. Make sure your plants are small as this is a delicate operation. Cover the plant roots as well as you can by manipulating the spoons or forks about. Don’t worry too much if you can’t cover all the roots, they will bed themselves in very quickly when they have been watered.

When all the plants are in, water them by dribbling water down the sides of the bottle. It is not necessary to water a bottle garden as often as a potted plant because with the lid on air cannot circulate and the plants will make their own climate, given the right growing situation. It should only require watering about once a year.

The garden will, in effect, be self-watering, as moisture given off by the leaves will condense on the side of the bottle and drip down to water the roots. If you find the plants are too wet, just remove the lid of the container for a while until it has dried out a little. You will soon recognize when you need to do this.

Stand your bottle garden in a good light, but not direct sunlight or the glass will get too hot.

Good plants for bottle gardens are those which are slow growing, like:

Peperomia Maranta (Prayer plant) Tradescantia Pilea (Aluminium plant)

There is a good selection in the Pilea species, all very hardy and tolerant of beginner gardeners!

The above-mentioned plants all have particularly decorative leaves.

With the correct choice of plants, a miniature garden can be grown successfully in a large coffee jar or similar. There is also a varied range of decorative bottles and jars on sale at reasonable prices.

Do not try cacti as they do not like the moist climate of a closed jar. They are better grown in an open dish or large plate.

A group of bottle gardens of various sizes makes an eye-catching feature in your home, and once set up need hardly any maintenance.

I enjoy beautifying my home with plants and flowers and sharing my experiences with others. For more advice on house plant care click here to go to my website http://www.familygardenguide.com. This article has also been posted on http://EzineArticles.com/expert=Felicite_Randall

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