First Terrarium
Closed or open is not a style choice. It decides which plants can live, how much you water, where it can stand, and whether it lasts a month or a decade.
Guides
Guides to building a terrarium that survives - the one decision that determines every other, how the layers actually work, and what to do when the glass fogs, the moss browns, or mould appears.
Latest articles
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Closed or Open: The One Decision That Sets Everything Else
Every subsequent choice - plants, substrate, watering, position - follows from whether the vessel has a lid. Choosing the wrong one is the reason most first terrariums fail.
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Building It: Layers, Substrate, and Planting
The layered structure is not decoration. Each layer solves a specific problem created by putting soil in a container with no drainage hole.
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Keeping It Alive: Condensation, Mould, and the Common Failures
A terrarium tells you what is wrong through the glass. Here is how to read fogging, mould, browning, and stretching, and what each one actually requires.