Spike nodded, and pushed the container of bog plant seeds out of the way as he listened to Bentley answer about the frogs. As she confirmed they would be including creatures and insects, Spike beamed. "Thanks, Professor," he said with a grin. He couldn't wait for his bromeliads to grow big enough for little frogs to sit in!


Spike was about to go get some soil, when Beezus caught him. "Technically, I'm going for a cloud forest," Spike said. Though still a tropical forest, it wasn't the same ecosystem as a rainforest. Admittedly though, perhaps he should have mentioned that when he asked which biome he should choose, as he was a little worried about how to simulate the high humidity required for the plants to thrive without it getting overwhelmed by algae. He assumed they'd get to that part though, controlling the atmospheric conditions.

"What species did you opt for?" he asked his co-Prefect, clearly interested. They should probably still have some overlap, no?


Spike couldn't help but listen in to Bentley's answer for Beezus. He'd had planned on just using loam, but tilted his head thoughtfully at the addition of sand. Did he need as much as a third of sand, however? He didn't think so, and made the decision then to use about a quarter of sand for balance.

He grabbed a bucket, and filled it with what he judged to be about the right amount of loam, before topping it up with the sand. He carried it back to the bench, before running it through his fingers to both mix up the two soil types, and to break up any major lumps. Now to get it in the jar.

Deciding that desk height was reasonable, Spike began to gently tip the soil into his jar, and pat it down lightly. He wanted an asymmetric effect and thus piled the soil up a little higher on the left than the right. Hopefully this would allow him to highlight the various species contained within. Happy, he brushed his gloved hands off on the thighs of his trousers, and opened his container of seeds.

Now on to the more fun stuff!