Express your green views for all to see – right on the walls of your house, restaurant or office. It’s the hottest trend in urban agriculture, after hydroponics and vertical farming.
This way you can literally green your walls: create whimsically-shaped words and images out of live moss to decorate your outside walls.
The environmentally-conscious gardener adapts to the climate, as Jordan did with its brown golfing greens. Still, it’s not all arid desert and sand in the Middle East. Many countries here contain hilly, wooded areas where damp winters allow enough moisture for moss to thrive.
An underestimated garden ornamental, moss requires no fertilizers nor even watering after its established, making it a sustainable house decoration. Here’s the way to encourage the velvety green stuff to grow just the way you want it to.
Old buildings are ideal for this, especially those standing in damp, shady corners. You could leave a message of love, or a rant on life, or express political opinions in living moss. Or if you’re into The Lord of the Rings, write a graceful green rune in Elvish to cast a spell over those who might wander into your garden. It needn’t be limited to walls: moss being a tough, resistant plant, a living green message could also decorate a footpath.
According to the National Gardening Association, moss thrives in shady, moist, sheltered areas. It likes filtered light, such as that falling through tree branches, and morning or late afternoon sun.
You need to either collect moss from an established patch (search your own or a friend’s garden) or buy some from a specialized garden center. Take it into your kitchen.
Ingredients:
1 can of beer
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Several clumps of garden moss
Equipment:
Recycled plastic container with lid
Blender
Paintbrush
Stencil with your design
Crumble the moss into the blender. Add the beer and sugar and blend just long enough to create a smooth, creamy consistency. Now pour the mixture into the plastic container.
Paint the moss blend onto a damp and shady wall, either free-hand or using a stencil. Water the new moss at regular intervals for the first month. Be gentle – don’t aim a hose at it, because that would wash it away. And don’t fertilize; moss doesn’t like a rich environment. Soon the bits of blended moss should begin to grow together into a whole rooted mass. You’ll need to trim excess away once it begins to grow and stray out of your design area – or just let it go to become a green tapestry on your garden wall.
More green design from Green Prophet:
It’s a great Idea !!
wow, that would be so nice if i lived somewhere with water. do you know if you can use non-alcoholic beer?
Moss likes to grow facing the north. That’s a good rule of thumb to follow if you live in the northern hemisphere.
Very Very cool.