In a beautiful example of a closed but
functional ecosystem, David Latimer has grown a garden sealed inside of a
giant glass bottle that he has only opened once since he started it
almost 54 years ago.
Latimer planted the garden on Easter
Sunday in 1960. He placed some compost and a quarter pint of water into a
10-gallon glass carboy and inserted a spiderwort sprout using wires. In
1972, he opened the garden again to add a bit of water. With that one
exception, the garden has remained totally sealed – all it needs is
plenty of sunlight!
It might seem strange to some that a
totally sealed garden would thrive like this, but it’s not – the garden
is a perfectly self-sufficient ecosystem. The bacteria in the compost
break down the dead plants and break down the oxygen given off by the
plants, turning it into the carbon dioxide that the plants need to
survive. The bottle is an excellent micro version of the earth as a
whole.
Here’s a how-to video for making your own terrarium:
