How to grow a wonderful garden in an isolated space, for example, in a bottle

It will seem incredible, but a houseplant from the genus Tradescantia (lat. Tradescantia) lives in a large glass bottle without any human intervention. The only thing that penetrates there from the outside world is sunlight.

The very idea of creating a garden in a bottle is not at all new. Similarly, European plant collectors grew tropical wonders that under normal conditions suffered from dry air. In a closed glass container - a terrarium - a special microclimate was created in which it was comfortable for thermophilic plants, accustomed to constant temperature and humidity. In this case, the neck of the bottle was left open or closed, but sometimes the container was still ventilated. To create such a kindergarten, some skill was required: not everyone could plant plants through a narrow neck.

The British David Latimer decided to create his own garden in a bottle. In the spring of 1960, he took a glass bottle with a volume of almost 40 liters and filled it with a small amount of soil. In his garden he placed four sprouts of tradescantia and watered them a little. Subsequently, only one sprout remained alive, which filled the space of the bottle. The only care was that the man would turn the bottle from time to time so that the shoots reaching for the light would grow evenly. After 12 years, David Latimer decided to test in his kindergarten the theory that plants can grow in an isolated space, without access of air and water. He only watered his wonderful garden in 1972 and closed the bottle forever. Since then, the plant has been developing without any human intervention.

Today, David Latimer is more than 80 years old, and he continues to watch his wonderful garden. Curious experiment interested in NASA (NASA). According to experts, this experiment may serve as the beginning for the implementation of a program related to the exploration of the moon. After all, if plants need only the initial volume of air and sunlight to provide themselves with everything necessary, including oxygen, then it is quite possible that they will provide life for the first lunar settlers.