Real builds, examined honestly
Long-running builds documented over months and years: what was planted, what failed, what the maker would do differently, and what transfers to your own work.
A four-litre clip-top jar planted in an open-plan office, four metres from the nearest window and lit largely by ceiling fluorescents, was opened after eighteen months. It had not been watered once. Two of the five species planted were gone, one had tripled in area, and the reason for both outcomes turned out to be the same. This is the full record of what went in, what happened, and what transfers.
An open ceramic tray on a north-facing sill, planted in 2022 with three moss species and two ferns, dismantled and documented in 2026. This teardown records what survived, what quietly disappeared in the first winter, how the substrate changed over four years, what the invertebrate population did without intervention, and the four decisions the maker would reverse if starting the same build again today.
An open shallow tray planted with three moss species, no lid and no hardscape beyond a single weathered stone, kept on a north-facing sill for two years. This teardown examines why the deliberately minimal composition holds up, how the builder solved the water problem in an open vessel, the two species that failed and were replaced, and what the surface looks like now that the carpet has knitted into a single continuous mat.
A sixty-litre vertical vivarium with a live moss and fern background, built without misting automation and maintained by hand for eighteen months. This teardown covers the background construction method, why the first substrate mix slid off the wall, how drainage was routed behind the panel, the species that established and the ones that did not, and the specific trimming regime that keeps the wall from becoming a single-species tangle.
A ten-litre demijohn planted in 2018, sealed in 2019, and opened exactly twice since. This teardown documents what actually happens inside a genuinely closed system over eight years: the species that died out, the one that took over, the surprising stability of the water cycle, the layer of self-generated leaf litter now covering the floor, and what the build's owner would do differently with the benefit of nearly a decade of observation.