Add Houseplant Whimsy With These DIY Moss String Gardens

11 Materials
$20
2 Hours
Medium
When I first saw these on Pinterest I KNEW I had to learn to make them! Turns out it isn't as easy as it looks icon ...of course. Fortunately I got some pro-tips from my gardening mentor! Here's how I learned to make these whimsical little moss ball gardens:
String Garden Supplies
Add Clay to Potting Mix
  • Ensure all the plants have moist soil. Set aside.
  • Place potting mix in a bucket. You'll need about 1 cup of potting mix per moss ball (or more if you'd like larger ones).
  • Add a few spoonfuls of clay and mix well. The clay should cause the mixture to start clumping.
Add Water and More Clay
  • Add a bit of water and mix very well.
  • Keep adding clay and water bit by bit until the mixture holds together in a ball on it’s own.
  • If it doesn't hold together, it may need water. Mud means to much water. Too much clay leads to a very dense soil matrix (not favourable to many plants).
Soi Mix is Ready!
  • Once the mixture is well-blended and holds together well in a ball, the mixture is ready to make kokedama.
  • You can crumble the ball up back into the soil mixture if you like, or keep it around to compare for size if you've got lots of soil (you'll make the soil ball around the plant roots).
Create the Soil Ball
  • Take the plant out of the pot and brush off loose soil from roots.
  • Gently arrange the roots to form a loose ball.
  • Pack the moist, loose soil mixture around the roots, bit by bit. As long as it is generally in a ball, it's ok if there are a few cracks.
Wrap in Moss
  • Arrange the moss into a blanket for the soil ball, about 1″ (3 cm) thick.
  • Place the soil ball onto the moss.
  • Wrap the moss sheet around the ball of soil.
Wrap with String
  • Wrap the string around and tie it to fasten the string onto the ball.
  • Keep wrapping the string around until the moss stays in place.
  • Once the moss is secured, tie off the string.
  • Cut off the excess string, leaving quite a long tail (for hanging it up).
Hang it up!
  • Hang up your new plant friend!
  • Check out the original article (linked below) for more details on how to make and care for your moss string garden icon
Resources for this project:
Dry Horticultural Clay
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Home for the Harvest | Mary Jane Duford
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Itsmemic Itsmemic on Feb 19, 2018

    how about using sisal twine instead of string? It would make the job go faster and more sturdy no?

  • Wilma Wilma on Mar 14, 2018

    How do you water it?

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2 of 8 comments
  • GeeWillikers GeeWillikers on Mar 15, 2018

    What a great idea Unique little housewarming gifts for my sons apartment. A tention rod across his kitchen window and these will hang beautifully

    Side note Is anyone else having ads cover their save "button"?

  • Marc Erick Marc Erick on Jun 30, 2018

    These are so cool! I'm going to make a couple to hang above my gnome garden! Thanks for sharing and...great tutorial! ☺

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