How to Design a Moss Dish Garden
- 1). Purchase an attractive shallow container for your moss dish garden. The shallow container does not need to be deeper than 3 inches and should not have drainage holes.
- 2). Fill the container 1 inch deep with fine gravel. The gravel weighs down the container and provides drainage in case of over-watering.
- 3). Fill the shallow container up to 1 inch from the rim of the container with horticultural sand. Do not use potting soil, because the moss does not need it and it will eventually sour from the constant moisture level of the moss.
- 4). Plan your moss dish garden according to how it will be viewed. If it is viewed from one direction, the taller items are placed in the front. If it is viewed from all sides, the taller items are placed in the middle.
- 5). Place sphagnum moss around the edges of the container to absorb any water that may run out of the container.
- 6). Cover the sand with sheet moss. Use scissors to cut the sheet moss in appropriate-sized sections to ensure good coverage.
- 7). Place other items, such as mossy limbs, along with Spanish moss in an attractive display that suits your tastes. Mossy limbs can be pushed through the sheet moss and sand layer so they will remain upright. If you do not like how it looks, simply take it apart and start over. Once finished, place sphagnum moss, sheet moss or Spanish moss in any bare areas.
- 8). Mist the entire moss dish garden with a mister. The moss will immediately respond and begin to turn green. Any moss that does not respond and looks dead and dried out should be immediately replaced.
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