MY TINY MOSSGARDEN

For the first time since I moved places I travelled back home to see my family.
My family is very important to me, so today I'd like to tell you about the nature around
one of my old homes.

My grandparents have a cosy house and a nice little garden.
In the middle of the garden is a large, old walnut tree.
Back when I lived together with my grandparents, this was the place where I created
my first moss garden and where I shot a lot of my photographs.

The moss garden was thought to act as a wild spot in the garden, a home for tiny animals.
I placed small rocks, large branches and piles of leaves as hideouts next to the moss. Here the tiny animals could hide safely during the daytime.

During my visit I found a bunch of wood louses in the hideouts, despite the cold
temperatures. I looked it up and they seem to search a frost-free spot for the Winter and then they stay there without moving, having the body functions at a minimum. While the snails already all dug themselves in for the Winter (photo is from earlier this year), I found the eggs of next years slugs. Slugs (snails without shell) die during the cold temperatures, so the eggs are vital for the life of the species in the garden.
Some of the eggs will become snacks for other animals of course, but many will turn
into little slug babies.

After I finished my tour in the garden I went back inside, where I could see my to date
largest terrarium flourishing.

The moss in the terrarium is the same as in the garden, yet in this tiny world, where it
always is warm and wet, it behaves a bit differently. On the side of the glass jar, which
is directed towards the light, I found the moss growing in fine structures right on the
wall of the glass jar. The clover in the middle also seemed to like the climate of the tiny world, growing huge, up to the top of the glass jar.

I'm absolutely fascinated by those tiny worlds that exist on their own. Once you
created them and shut the lid, there is no need to add any water from the outside
world. Inside of them is an own little water-cycle, much like it is for our earth as whole.

First water vaporizes and ascends to the top of the jar, then, when the „steam“ hits the
cold glass walls, it turns back into waterdrops and flows back to the earth and the
plants. The other cycle existing in the glass jar is all about the air in the tiny world. During the
day the plants convert CO2 to O2 (air) and during the night-time they convert O2 back
to CO2.

With the world in the glass jar existing on it's own, I'm super curious how it will look
like the next time I visit.