Drill some holes in the cap, or remove cap.  Cut the bottle open leaving enough room for dirt.  Place the top back on and see if its the size you want it to be.  If not, cut away more plastic from the top portion.  Fill with dirt, seeds, or cuttings! I chose cuttings here.

A little water goes a long way here so don’t overwater!  Place the top back on, open the cap at least 2x a day to let out excess moisture.  After these plants take root, I will pot them up, and stick some new cuttings back in my new mini terrarium!

Another added convenience of this simple terrarium?  Keeps my cats from eating my plants!

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Now thats good. But how do you keep it heated overnight? Here’s the concept of passive solar heat from greenmethods.com

A solar greenhouse is heated by collecting and storing heat energy throughout the day, then releasing it slowly at night, basically moderating the climate. To use the sun’s energy, a solar greenhouse needs to collect, insulate, and store energy. Aside from fans to circulate air, it is a passive system.

He suggests water for heat storage, and gives us a calculation to go on. 2 gallons per square feet. Not sure how this works, since were looking at cubic feet for ground and air temperature in a contained unit, but its enough to go on.

So I started thinking about how to heat a small space, just to hold flats… and this came to me.

Plans for a Pop Can Solar Heater

If my wonderful drawing skills dont convey the idea well enough, its a basic 4’x4′ frame. Pop cans on the outside, covered (airtight!) with a layer of plastic (instead of glass). Milk jugs on the inside to collect and store heat. Im still considering the materials to use. Its usually constructed the first time with whatever scrap I have here, for the testing prototype, and modified until it works.

Will be testing this plan in the coming weeks to see if it keeps a small coldframe at adequate temperatures to put annuals outside before our last frost date.

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This broken pot fairy garden was one of the first of a slew of jaw dropping fairy gardens. The hens and chicks (sempervivum) bursting at the seems is what really gets me in this arrangement. Densely compact succulents keep it looking clean. It’s neat and tidy and messy all at once!  The fairy door, bird bath and little birdhouse on top is like the icing on a chocolate cake!

Source: hometalk.com via Kathy on Pinterest

I had to try this myself.

When the plants grew in, it looked fabulous, but I want to show you the bare bones. It’s relatively easy to fit the pieces together into a nice arrangement.  Some tips to make it work. Wet your soil so it packs firmly. And you do have to pack very firmly to get the whole thing to stay together. It will take some adjusting. The rock at the bottom was not only decorative but helped to support the entire garden. The steps were the hardest to get to stay in place. Keep working with it until you get your desired result, because this will be a beautiful garden for a long time. It does hold together if done right.

Here the plants are starting to grow in…

Broken Pot Fairy Garden

Here are some of my favorite broken pot fairy gardens from pinterest to get your juices flowing. There are so many creative people out there! (Click the image to see the original pin.)

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How much simpler could it be to have a thriving garden, you dont even need to take the soil out of the bag! Just cut it open and plant your seeds right in. Dont forget the drainage hole on the bottom.

Mother Earth News wrote a really in depth article on how to start a quick and easy food garden

Have you tried this? Or something similar? tell us about it. leave a comment below!

The post Dont Have Space? Plant a Garden in a bag. appeared first on Roots Nursery.

These fairy houses were hand crafted by my 17 year old son in his ceramics class. You can imagine my delight when my son called during the school day ‘hey ma, im in ceramics class, what do you want’. The urge to rattle off a huge list was a struggle, but i managed to keep it at a fairy house and some mushrooms. I asked him not to glaze them, so I can eventually grow some chia seeds on them. This by far was the best mothers day gift ever. Made with love by my son 😀

Do YOU have any home made fairy garden items? Would love to see them. Post Below!

The post Clay Fairy Houses – made by my son! appeared first on Roots Nursery.

Source: Uploaded by user via Jan on Pinterest

Now this is the MOST Inventive vertical garden I have ever seen. An old hanging shoe organizer is perfect for plants, who would have ever thought! Theyre usually made of canvas, so durability and drainage isnt an issue. And these pockets are pretty big, a good amount of space for plants to stretch their roots. Now I wish I didnt throw mine away. But you better be sure I’ll be keeping an eye out at garage sales and resale shops for something like this!

The post Ditch the Shoes, Grow More Plants! appeared first on Roots Nursery.

Did you find an extra special poinsettia and want to keep it around for a while? Theyll stick around all year if you know how to treat them.

Lanark Master Gardeners wrote an article detailing how to keep your poinsettia until spring and what to do to force it through a dormant period to get it looking great for next Christmas.

Some things I didnt know. Poinsettias are Euphorbias. Were growing ever fonder of euphorbias as new varieties show up here more and more often. AND poinsettias are NOT poisonus… from the article:

“There is a myth that poinsettias are poisonous. This is refuted by the POISINDEX Information Service. In 1992 the poinsettia was included on the list of household plants most helpful in removing pollutants from indoor air.”

Go check it out What to do with Poinsettia After Christmas

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Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

This project was also revised by Ana White. I am ultimately impressed by the huge recycling effort. It takes 1,000 bottles to create this greenhouse, and think of the man hours. Putting this together would be quite a task, but its worth the effort. To put our plastic back to good use. Here is Ana Whites instructions for a Plastic Bottle Greenhouse. She invited the world to get involved in this project. Its such a good idea, I think its catching on. Zakynthos Bottle Recycling in Greece has a whole facebook page dedicated to recycling bottles. Visit them to learn more about their recycling efforts.

What’s Next? More Recycled Craft ideas…

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This plant uses its flowers to attract the gnats to the plant.  Then if the gnats touch the leaves which are very sticky (glandular) they will be stuck there, and will be digested by the plant.

The post Mexican butterwort (Pinguicula Moranensis) Gnat Plant. appeared first on Roots Nursery.

I’m OBSESSED with Fairy Gardens. Fairy doors, fairy houses, little mushrooms, garden Gnomes… obsessed.  I really have gone fairy garden crazy.

And rightly so.

After rigorous hours in the nursery moving massive amounts of soil, hauling pots, building cinderblock structures, its such a relief to sit and create something… small.

ahhhhh. my back thanks me.

Here are nine wonderfully creative fairy doors that I found on pinterest, made with things you might find around your home. I was so inspired I scavenged my home for bits and baubles and made my own. Hopefully, it will inspire you too. Here are my instructions on how to make fairy doors.

Fairy Doors

Can You Believe this Fairy Door is made out of Popsicle Sticks???
these are SO easy to make. Popsicle sticks. Glue. Paint and doo dads.
I wrote a post with instructions here.
craftster.org

Birch Log Fairy Door

At first I thought, that would be hard to hollow out a little birch log. But looking closer, duh. Just paint it! This would be easy to scrape off some bark… or don’t! Just trace an area and hit it with black paint. Then go nuts with the decorations.
fineartmarketplace.com

Fairy Door Made of an old hollow log:

I think this one looks easy to me because we had some big trees come down. Someone came out and sliced up all of them and left them for us to use for firewood. There are many interesting logs with cracks and crevices that look like doors. It would be simple to pull one out, grab your hot glue and find some twigs to make little fancies… If your yard is clean, look for a neighbor with trees that have been taken down. Ask the if you can steal some pieces.
craftster.org</a

Fairy Doors made out of bark and rocks

This one is SUPER easy recycling fun. Find an old water bottle, yogurt cup, butter tub. Flip it. cut out a door. Glue on rocks and bark… done and done. The faster the work comes together, the easier it is to add those creative touches. LOVE it.
magicalchildhood.wordpress.com

Fairy House with a Fairy Door Made from a pumpkin

ok, this one will take some time. But right after halloween, you might be in luck. Id say, to save time in carving and to make your fairy house last longer, paint the doors and windows with black paint. Then glue on the knick knacks and fun stuff. Find twigs and flower buds around the yard and go to town. The moral of this post. Hot Glue is a crafters best friend.
lifestyle.msn.com

Fairy Treehouse Ladder Door

This looks super easy but might take a few minutes with a tiny little drill bit. This ladder is so so cute and i can see two ways to do it. Cut twigs. Find a tiny drill bit and drill holes to feed the string through. Make sure a knot before and after each rung. OR if you dont have a drill or don’t actually feel like drilling, just tie a knot around each rung. If it’s a little off, it will only add to the adorableness of this thing. It’s pretty easy to tie it up…

Shared by Patricia

Simple fairy entryway with twigs and pinecones

This is as easy as sticking sticks in a hole. Literally. If you have a tree with an opening, just place sticks, pinecones, rocks and more around it. You could always glue it in place if you don’t want it to blow or wash away with the next rain.
flickr.com

Fairy Ladder and door with twigs and hot glue

I mean how cute. Get your hot glue gun. Glue some twigs together to make the door and the platform. Then glue twigs onto larger branches, or anything you have laying around to make the ladder. Then glue on your little fancy things like flowers, jewelry, decorative moss, anything from your craft box.
faenation.com

Popsicle stick fairy door with branches and old jewelry

Again, this is a super fast and easy project. Your kids will love it. All you need is some popsicle sticks, the right kind of glue for outdoors, and whatever fun stuff laying around the house or yard to decorate it. Instructions are here.
kaboodle.com

Fairy Garden Doors you can Buy

Oh, some more awesome things. I told you I was obsessed. Someone asked me where to buy fairy doors in the comments. I usually go to my nursery, but once I started looking on Amazon, it was hard to stop, they have so many wonderful things and they’re actually even cheaper!

I found this glow in the dark fairy door and window set. These are adorable. I may have to buy a bunch of these for my whole yard.

Here’s a beautiful fairy door already done for you. Mushrooms and all.

A gorgeous hobbit door. I’m a sucker for these. It would be easy to build a mound of soil and grow moss on top of in a nice shady place. Then carve out a space the door on the side of the mound and place it in…. how stinkin cute!

And if you like RED, which is what inspired me to do this post in the first place… a round red gnome door.

And even more. oh my gosh, dont get me started on amazon. The selection is endless.


I hope you have fun with your fairy gardening! There are so many options it’s almost hard to get started. Don’t wait to choose, just grab something get started! Fairy doors are such a fun little project. Hopefully I’ve given you some good ideas 😀

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