bottle garden

Is this the shape of bottle you mean???

I've got some bottle gardens I made with a class of pupils in 2009, they are in plastic sweet bottles (about the same size I guess). They have been completely closed systems since about three months after they were set up. We were given a completely random selection of plants by a local shop and most things survived. Anything variegated seems to have done well, I assume they are more slow growing. One has a cactus in which is as happy as Larry. There is only one plant in each bottle. I've never even had to open the tops to clean off algae. I can only put the success down to not have too many plants so no competitive grow for light and using lots of charcoal in the bottom to absorb nasties.

My advice would be create a "stone/shell garden" with just one plant as the feature if you want something a bit more ornamental than my "scientific" creations. Maybe think about tipping the bottle at an angle (30 °) to give you more surface area to play with.

I can see a tray of beach pebbles and stones with the bottled nestled in it at an angle with the plants growing in it! Infact I bet beach plants would do really well if you could create salty soil and keep the bottle cool. But then I'm just delaying going out to do some work! I did google and a lot of the info is not very good. You certainly shouldn't need to put holes in the lid but you do need to find a point of equilibrium before closing the bottle.

Hi thanks yes that's the one, it was just the shape of the bottle that made me think is must have another use.

Strictly speaking the best "other use" would be to refill it with some home brew - just as nature intended.