Create Bottle Garden

Tutorial and protocol

  Bottle Garden

A recycled jar can be used as a miniature greenhouse. The greenhouse effect is a natural effect that keeps the earth warm.  Without it the earth would be 33ºC lower in temperature than it is today and life as we know it would not have existed!

The greenhouse effect is due to an increase CO2 in the atmosphere. Our planet is getting warmer than normal and this causes the environmental disasters and the negative effects on life that we are seeing.

Your task is to observe the effects of global warming with this experiments

You need:  1) Plant, water, charcoal, soil and expanded clay

                  2) Jar, spoon, mortar and pestle, wash bottle, tweezers , stick and gloves.

Method:

1. Crush the charcoal with the mortar and pestle.
2. Place the expanded clay on the base of the jar. This will provide a good drainage base for the plants.
3. Add a thin layer of activated charcoal on top of the drainage layer to minimize any smell caused by decomposition within the jar.
4. Cover the expanded clay and the thin layer of charcoal with soil.
5. Press the soil.  
6. Plant the garden. Place the plants in the soil using tweezers and  the long, thin stick. Put the plants in different spots. Bottle garden lends itself well to plants which require a good deal of humidity (e.g. ivy plant) because the bottle will trap moisture.
7. Water the plants and the soil using the wash bottle.
8. Leave the jar open for a day before closing.
9. Put the jar close to a window or in an lit room.