Posts by Alexander Whaley

I used to crack open my sealed terrariums every week to “give them a drink,” and I kept wondering why they went swampy or dried out a month later. Once I understood the tiny weather system inside...

I’ve built terrariums that looked magazine-ready for exactly three weeks — then collapsed into soup and fungus. When I learned why, my next builds ran for years with almost no input. In this...

I used to grab the biggest, cheapest bag on the pallet and wonder why my basil drooped and fungus gnats moved in. When I finally opened a premium mix next to a bargain one, the difference in smell,...

I used to build terrariums like I potted houseplants: thick gravel at the bottom, soil on top, and hope in between. The plants looked great for two weeks, then the lower roots soured and the glass...

I remember proudly snapping the lid onto my first closed terrarium and waking up a week later to a foggy jar with white fuzz creeping over the moss. I see the same thing on friends’ shelves: great...

I learned to build terrariums by ruining a few. I remember the pretty bowl I crammed with ferns, succulents, and a moss carpet — it fogged up, smelled swampy, and collapsed in a month. If you’ve...