Moss as grass for miniature garden?

[MinatureGarden]

I'm making the plans for my miniature japanese garden I'm creating out of a nice tank I have. i was to have 'grass'. But I assume the kind out of the lawn,'s blades are two big and this species doesn't grown small, so i was thinking of moss?

Does anyone know if a nice thin moss that grows good with a bit of humidity? Or do you know of any grass that has small blades? Your help is much appreciated!

[cynthia_h]

I took the liberty of moving your request to the Japanese Garden Forum so that people who read this section only will see it.

I wish you success!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[MinatureGarden]

Oh thankyou
Oh and to confirm. I'm going to use Kyoto Moss Sorry to have made a useless thread. an Admin may delete it if they wish

[Piet Patings]

If the Kyoto Moss does not work out well, a moss-replacement may be a good alternative.

This works indoors and out and is less critical to keep alive.
But if the moss works for your situation, Great.
Bye,

[The Helpful Gardener]

Or a different moss, Piet. Some of them are circumboreals (found all over the world like Polytrichum...

http://www.borealforest.org/lichens/lichen10.htm

This moss will take full sun if it is wet enough and some shade as well, and it's very happy in northern areas (despite the fact the it's found in Mexico, some Polynesian islands, New Zealand and Australia! Pretty adaptable! I have always found that by using "native" mosses, selected from an area much like the garden you are putting them into, you can generally be successful with mosses... Kyoto moss is a bit of a sissy for outdoors; lovely form, great house plant, and perfect for your tank. but not for a lawn unless you have Kyoto's climate...

But I do understand Piets problem outside with the birds (have had moss turves flipped about; our biggest culprit is our robins, who are a bit bigger than Piet's). I think planting from a slurry gets better results than turf moss because of just that....

George Schenk's wonderful book Moss Gardening is the only one you will ever need on the subject...highly recommended...

HG

[Jewell]

Irish or Scotch Moss (Sagina subulata) is not really a moss, but looks like one. I have it in my yard and it self-sowed itself onto one of my paths. I really like the mossy look and it seems to be pretty tough with the dogs running over it.

I live on the Puget Sound so have a pretty humid climate. I've found out (by accident trying to get rid of dandelions) that killing the grass in my yard leaves a nice mossy ground covering.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Puget Sound actually does share Kyoto's climate in many ways, so moss is verynatural for your area with a steady onshore flow...

An old blender can make slurries of moss you want to transplant; as a sporing plant most mosses are pretty ubiquitous, so I don't feel bad abouut sampling natural communities of moss. What little I take I am transplanting to a environs where it would not normally get a foothold, where I will assist it in establishing, and I never take more than 10% of any wild population of mosses. I think it's a pretty even deal for both species. And it's nice to get different species I think there are something like twenty different species of moss at my favorite garden, Saiho-ji...

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3937.html

I could live here...

HG

[Sage Hermit]

1.Moss Needs:

Moisture
Shade
Air

Easy enough right? The beauty of this plant is that it grows in acidic soil and doesn't even need soil. Soil really helps though. Someone right now is growing moss on baby diapers because they hold in moisture and allow the moss to grow.

2.Grass Needs:

Moisture
Soil
Light

The best grass you can get for your tank would be the grass that grows on the road and in the cracks. Take a few heads off the grass and bury them. They sprout fast, just a few days keep soil moist.

3.Some things you might need for a tank:

Mist bottle + Neem oil (gets rid of bugs) + Water
Pair or small scissors

Mist your tank 2x a day and watch it mature and stabilize into a very green tank. I want you to take a picture of it and show me it please.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Starting with a fuingal woodland soil will move it towards the acidic ranges; once we drop below 6.5 pH the grass will start to dissappear and moss will still thrive, so there is a good way to promote moss and get rid of grass. I think for your purposes moss will work better, unless you like mowing with scissors in the tank...

HG

[Sage Hermit]

i LIKE DOING THAT

[The Helpful Gardener]

I kept a terrarium in a two hundred gallon tank for a client, (he had lost tens of thousands of dollars in an aquarium disaster and refused to put fish back in them). Maintaining smaller enclosures that you can comfortably reach into will become important to you after that tenth cleaning or so, and I find the complete water tight seal is less convenient for humidity dispersal than allowing it to escape from the seams, like my little glass conservatory I keep outside...

If you like mowing, then grass is much better than moss...

HG