This year, Earthlink held her very first terrarium workshop on the 18th of October attracting members with green fingers. We were given an opportunity to take our minds off momentarily from the stresses of upcoming quizzes and finals and immerse ourselves wholeheartedly with the delicate task of planting and personalizing our own terrarium. And what makes it better? Building the terrariums using disposable bottles and containers! As Earthlinkers, we are always looking for ways to recycle disposables and even reuse them to our advantage.
What is a terrarium? A terrarium is just like a mini aquarium with plants instead of aquatic life. Imagine owning a small patch of garden that is portable, colorful and fuss-free. That is the main attraction of a terrarium! In addition, the calming effect plants have can effectively reduce stress, which is exactly what all of us students need right now in these hectic weeks.
Before we rush into our hands-on activity, we played a game of Bingo, designed and modified to broaden our environmental knowledge. Every table took turns to answer fun facts about the environment and with each correct answer, they can draw a cross on their Bingo game card. The group that manages to complete a Bingo first will be given two extra pot of plant to add onto their terrarium. Needless to say, all of us were eager to answer the questions, and in return, we gained quite a few new insights on some environmental facts from the lighthearted game.
Having held up our anticipation for some time, the hands-on terrarium building activity finally begun. Firstly, we cut our recyclable containers into our ideal terrarium tank and laid the pebbles as the foundation layer. The wide array of pebbles’ colors greatly attracted our Earthlinkers as they went in search for the perfect color combination. About 2-3-inch-thick rich soil was placed above the pebbles before the plants were set into the soil. Extra precautions were taken when we remove the plants from its original pot so that we do not damage the roots of the fragile little plants.
Succulent plants with a mix of colors and types were chosen for us to place in our terrarium. The intricate patterns of the veins of the leaves, as well as the different shades of green, red and pink, gave our reused empty plastic bottles and containers a new lease of life and brighten up our faces as we admired our own masterpiece. Now we truly had our own unique little green space, using used recyclables.
As the workshop drew to an end, all of us proudly took a group photo with our fresh and beautiful terrarium. Getting our hands soiled was well worth it. We all returned home with our very own miniature garden. Low maintenance, useful, beautiful and decorative, what more can you ask for?