Making Moss

mossgraffiti: “Moss Graffiti” is something I’ve tried before, but not with such an easy recipe. Time to try again. there are times you want to dress down your pond area and things like that…. gardeners like things like moss and lichens:)
moss art

The basic recipe is as follows, with more detailed instructions here:

1 can of beer
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Several clumps garden moss

a plastic container (with lid),
a blender and a paintbrush
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To begin the recipe, first of all gather together several clumps of moss (moss can usually be found in moist, shady places) and crumble them into a blender. Then add the beer and sugar and blend just long enough to create a smooth, creamy consistency. Now pour the mixture into a plastic container.

Find a suitable damp and shady wall on to which you can apply your moss milkshake.

Along with the unique idea given, a gardener might want to hurry up the ‘moss process’ for any number of decorative projects. Giving character to pots and urns, a natural appearance to rocks around ponds, fountains, or making a rock or wall look like it had been there forever.

In growing a moss garden, Joni Blackburn, in Mad About Moss, said,

although I was curious to see if the often prescribed blended-buttermilk-and-moss method would work, I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice my only blender to a botany experiment.

She does, however give a springtime “tonic of manure tea”; also recommended was a book, Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts and Other Miniatures.

Ferns and moss naturally grow together and make a peaceful green garden. As long as there is little foot traffic, I think it would make a very low maintenance garden for the right conditions: a shady side yard that has sufficient moisture. Add a few stones, a fountain or garden ornament, a bench, and it could become your favorite place to sit and meditate… a small Serenity Garden.

TIME LIFE PLANT ENCYCOLPEDIA

True mosses grow 1/16 to 24 inches tall. They have many tiny flat leaves and stems that are often too closely packed to distinguish. The leaves expand when wet and close up when dry. Thousands of plants bunch together to make a patch of moss. Like ferns, mosses grow from spores. The spores develop green threadlike branches called protonema, which push into the ground and eventually develop leaves. The plants do not have true roots but attach themselves by tiny rootlets to the material on which they grow. By absorbing water, mosses allow moisture to soak into the ground gradually and help enrich the soil when they decay.

More ideas for growing and decorating with moss

Tags: moss, serenity garden