Plot on a plate: Zen mountain monastery

Last month we made our first plot on a plate for the Chelsea Physics Garden competition. I’d said at the time that I wanted to try and make a mini moss garden. My tulip pots had gone over on the display table so I thought it was time to get this finished. I had started it a few weeks back but the seagulls have been causing too much trouble knocking things over and pulling things apart. They seem to have calmed down now. So hopefully this won’t just be a zen statement on the impermanence of things when the gulls pull it apart within an hour.

The little building is a tea light lantern.

Along the edges of the buildings, I’ve added lines of moss scraped from my fence. These have been carefully glued in place. I’ve read that so long as they are kept moist they can still grow onto things when applied in this way.

The same was applied for the ‘mountain’.

For the path, I tried to find several nice round pebbles so we could make a nice curved path up to the building. The moss is for hanging baskets. So long as I keep it moist it should green up a bit further.

The fern I’ve placed in using the methods I used for making the kokedama. The soil was washed off the roots. They were then re-incased in a mixture of clay and bonsai soil that could be moulded down on the plate. The moss around it should help keep the moisture in so it can still grow.

Today is Gardens Day here in the UK. A variety of online events are happening and people are being encouraged to share their gardens across social media for the event. There are several live feeds on over the day with a mixture of talks, things to make crafts, and quizzes. It’s a perfect day to have a go at making a plot on a plate. It is blowing a gale out in my garden but I’m going to have to risk getting blown to Oz as I need to prevent wind damage for a few plants. Not idea weather for a garden party but hopefully it will cheer up. If not I’ll be looking at tending the houseplants. I’d like to take cuttings of a few. Enjoy your days!

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