- Working Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Estimated Cost: $30
Add a little color to your table with this easy-to-do moss garden. This DIY project adds an artistic touch to an outdoor seating area or brings nature inside with rocks, plants, and some touchable moss to finish it off. We used a ceramic dish to hold the dirt and moss in place, but you can choose any flat vessel you like (just be sure to add a drainage hole).
Self-taught moss expert, garden designer, and artist David Spain of Moss and Stone Gardens supplies moss to thousands of clients across the country. He created this moss garden for us. Follow the step-by-step instructions to create yours.
What You'll Need
Equipment / Tools
- Drill with ceramic-tile bit
- Spoon
- Skewer
- Tweezers or surgical clippers
Materials
- Ceramic dish
- Landscape fabric
- Pea gravel
- Well-draining potting mix
- Rocks
- Vascular plants
- Moss
Instructions
How to Make a Tabletop Moss Garden
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Drill Holes
Using the ceramic-tile bit, drill a center hole in the ceramic dish. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the dish, allowing water to settle the dust and cool the drill bit as it heats up. Begin drilling at a 45-degree angle to create a groove as a foothold, stabilizing the bit. Then slowly move the drill to a 90-degree angle and finish drilling. Wash the dish.
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Add Fabric and Pea Gravel
Line the bottom of the dish with landscape fabric, so rock and potting mix won't clog the drainage hole. Add a thin layer of pea gravel to assist in drainage.
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Add Potting Mix and Accents
Add well-draining potting mix to just below the brim. Begin adding your "bones" of the dish garden. Use a kitchen spoon to dig holes for vascular plants (such as baby ferns). In this project, David Spain uses a rock and an ebony spleenwort fern for structure.
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Cut and Add Moss
Add a larger piece of moss than the space allows and, using your clippers, trim to a size a little larger than needed so the edges can be tucked in. Lay it atop the potting mix and press down firmly.
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Tuck in Edges
Use any tool to tuck in the edges of the moss. Spain uses a bamboo skewer. Using tweezers or surgical clippers, remove any leaf debris. The final design includes mosses Brachythecium rutabulum and Dicranum scoparium, reindeer moss (Cladonia spp.), and ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron).