Dish Garden

My high school students used to make dish gardens when I taught Horticulture. It was usually one of the more popular activities. The high schoolers didn't have as much fun adding little dinosaurs like my boys though. It doesn't take a lot of resources, and it's pretty easy.

I found some shallow bowls that aren't used regularly, and the boys filled them about 3/4 of the way full with soil. I dug up some pieces of Hosta that was in our yard to plant in the bowls. The Hostas are just coming up and aren't very big, which makes them good for a dish garden. They are also very low maintenance, so when they are in the house they will survive. The boys found some rocks in our yard, and they painted them for their gardens. I peeled moss off some bricks in our yard, so it could be added to the garden. The boys planted the Hostas, which was only 1 or 2 plants to each bowl. Then they covered the soil with the moss. The rock and dinosaurs were added to compete the landscape. We watered everything, and put it in a south facing window for some sun.

The boys liked getting their hands dirty planting. They also like taking care of their plants everyday. It's like having chores to do. They have to check their little gardens everyday. Adding little dinosaurs helped them use their imaginations to create a little ecosystem. Sometimes they move their dinosaurs around in the dirt each day
, but I frown on this because I don't want a mess in the house.

Hint: Adding rocks to the bottom of the bowl will allow drainage. If you don't have rocks just limit the amount of water. You can trim up the Hosta leaves are roots to make them fit in the bowl.