Creating a Miniature Fairy Garden is as easy as pie!
Have you ever heard the saying "Make a ten dollar hole for a one dollar tree"? This statement holds especially true when making a miniature garden, everything the plants need to survive, is something you have to provide... -
After finding your container, start by using a good soil mixture; you can either make your own or buy some ready made. Mix about 4 tsp. of dry silica crystals per cubic foot of soil, this helps retain water making it easier to actually enjoy the garden. Or, you can use an extra and clean baby diaper, simply remove all that powder from the center strip and soak it in a bowl of water. You'll be surprised at how much you actually get from one diaper!
Tip; I always wet my crystals before planting in them. This shows me how they will look (if you use too much it will look nasty) when I water. I've also had a lot of success with adding a few extra crystals directly in the planting holes (just like you would in a regular garden.) -
-Creating the soil-
This is my own recipe, feel free to amend it as you see fit, as, what works for one person/plant may not work for another.
1 gallon of good yard clay 2 gallons of aged natural compost Silica Crystals (follow manufacturers' directions)
Simply mix all the ingredients together, adding enough water to make it workable.
Tip; Use an old blender to chop the compost into "mini-garden sized bits" before mixing in your clay and silica. Try not to make it too fine- you want the soil to be able to drain.
After mixing and wetting your soil, go ahead and fill the container you plan to use. I fill it all the way up because later when I pack the soil, the overall level will drop. Add your plants, paying close attention to the scale. If you're using some mint trained to look like a tree, or even if you're using a real tree, make sure it seems like it is a tree when compared to the other plants you use. I love to take the very top growth of various sedums and make small bedding plants out of them. Try using Two-row Stonecrop 'Dragon's Blood' Sedum spurium as tiny decorative cabbages mingling with some Jenny's Stonecrop Sedum rupestre. These can make a great mass planting!
When you're done planting you may then decide to top dress your soil. This is a very simple procedure; all you're basically doing is adding a layer of nice looking finished soil to the top of the planting.
Tip; Try using a natural sand with tiny pebbles to make dry stream beds. Even lacking water, these pretty details can add movement and depth to a planting.
Don't forget to use a different shade and grade of soil for making the trails and flowerbeds within your fairy garden! It is the little things that make these creations so nice. Another thing so easy to overlook is what to use as a background, something for your plantings to play off of. One easy way of doing this is to plant your tallest trees toward the back leaving the lower growing flowers to the mid and foreground. A person could even place the garden against a reed mat, this looks natural and will not detract from the gardens' overall design.
Some additional ideas include,
Twigs and bark; Even a small piece of yard trash can look marvelous in a dish garden.
Tiny leaves, rocks, etc.; Try scattering them around the landscape, this adds more detail while making the planting really "pop".
Caves, hideaways and dens; Use a pencil to poke a nice (not perfectly round) hole in the side of a hill. Accent this with rocks and maybe even a nice tree root, maybe there's a teeny tiny fox family living in that den? Who knows, they could even have wings, this is a magical garden, after all!
- -Specimen Trees, Shrubs & Topiaries-
In standard gardens, people often have a tree or special showy shrub as a standout addition to their regular drifts of flowers, the same effect can be incorporated into a miniature fairy garden as well. My favorite planting includes a Privet bonsai. It is just the right height to fool the eye into thinking the gardens and surrounding landscapes are real, one can almost see the Faye meandering through "their" gardens! Another great thing about Privet, it is hardy and it BLOOMS! The pretty white flowers add an airy, fairytale type atmosphere. Try not to over-do a specimen planting, the whole idea is to have one or two stand out additions. If you pay close attention to blooming times, you can even have something nice blooming in most seasons.
-Making a simple miniature Topiary-
Supplies;
Pantyhose Corsican Mint (or something similar) Soil Something for a base (wooden dowels, twigs or shaped wire work great)
Cut enough pantyhose to make a ball the size you need. Fill this with soil and tie the end tightly. Now, poke evenly spaced holes large enough to slip your plants' roots in- you do not have to cover the entire ball with plants, though, do try and add enough so it doesn't take forever to fill in! To attach the topiary ball to its base you can either,
*Shove the ends of the wire base into the ball itself, if you make small backwards hooks on each tip of the wire end this will help secure the ball to the base.
*Use strong weather resistant glue. Make sure it is waterproof when dry; you'll have to water your topiaries often!
(If you don't want to fuss with a base, try placing your topiary balls directly on the ground. This makes a lovely and unusual addition!)
Watering your topiary;
Use either a gentle mist of compost tea from a spray bottle, spraying until fully saturated or- soak the entire thing in a glass of mild compost tea. If the plants are filling in nicely and look happy, they probably are! -
-Making an easy lawn-
Try using moss in lieu of real grass. If you prefer a shaggy lawn, there are many types of moss that grow a bit longer than, say, Pincushion Moss. The idea is to use a hardy plant that looks as much like grass as possible- without having to trim it. Moss works beautifully for this!
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-A beautiful pond-
Anything that will hold water can be used as a pond in a miniature garden. You won't be adding fish to such a small space, so, you're good! A pretty decent sized pond can be made by using a single serve applesauce cup. A person could even craft their own custom pond from Polymer Clay or cement. Do not forget to decorate the edges with rocks, logs and tiny plants!
If you want plants (who doesn't?!) try adding a bit of duckweed, it is small, hardy and easily removed when it crowds the pond. An easy way to have "water lilies" is to craft them from polymer clay, make sure to use an outdoor safe sealant if your planting is to be in the yard. Plain acrylic paints can be used to paint it, making them float can be achieved by gluing them to a layer of foam cut to the shape of the leaves/flowers. Make sure to paint the foam so it doesn't stand out and detract from your new pretty blooms! You can use this same technique for making tiny Koi as well. -
-Positioning, watering & feeding the plants-
For most plants, you need to water when the soil dries, the silica will help cut down on having to water as often but the soil will still dry out fast. If your plants are wilting and the soil is dry- it is probably time to water. Place your fairy garden in a spot with as much shade as the plants will tolerate, keeping the container out of direct sun will help prevent soil dry out. When the time comes to water, use a fine spray or soak the dish in a pan of mild compost tea. Allow the soil to become fully saturated before removing, this recharges the silica and makes sure the entire container gets thoroughly watered and fed.
Tip; Gently saturating the top layer of soil with a spray bottle will help in keeping the topsoil from floating away when soaking the dish.
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Now that you're all set up, try adding a tiny door or maybe even a patio set to the garden. Don't forget your fairies need a place to live (mine prefer the gnarled privet trees' trunk), so, get creative and soon you'll be seeing tiny fairy smiling faces!
- - Possible plants list. Some of these plants are harder to grow than others, some are larger or smaller. Please, research each plant before incorporating it into your fairy garden.
Herbs
*Corsican Mint *Oregano *Creeping Thyme- Thymus *Germander- Chamaedrys Germander *Thyme- 'Elfin' Thymus praecox _____
Cacti-Succulents (these plants may not appreciate the added silica-try planting them in their own pots if the garden is large enough)
*Birdfoot Cactus- Escobaria minima *Hester's Foxtail Cactus- Escobaria hesteri *Lee's Dwarf Snowball Cactus, Escobaria sneedii subsp. leei *Beehive Cactus- Escobaria vivipara *Cob Cactus- Escobaria dasyacantha *Escobaria- Escobaria vivipara var. kaibabensis *Bukiniczia- Bukiniczia cabulica *Sedum multiceps (Miniature Joshua Tree) *'Angelina' Sedum rupestre (great for faking potted conifers)
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Alpine type plants
*Delosperma album *Delosperma cooperi 'Mesa Verde' *Delosperma dyeri 'Psdold' *Delosperma sphalmanthoides *Delosperma nubigenum *Pleiospilos nelii *Oscularia deltoides
*Aloe- 'Harry Butterfield' Aloe *Haworthia- Haworthia cooperi *Cathedral Window Haworthia- Haworthia cymbiformis
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Shrubs
*Dwarf Firethorn- 'Low Dense' Pyracantha koidzumii *Miniature Rose- Rosa *Alpine Geranium- Erodium reichardii *Alpine Bilberry- Vaccinium uliginosum *Pink Star Grass- Rhodohypoxis milloides
_____ Mosses
*Alpine Club Moss- Lycopodium alpinum *Kyoto Moss- Leptobryum pyriforme *Spanish Moss- Tillandsia usneoides (try adding it to your trees and trimming with scissors.) *Club Moss- 'Rainbow' Selaginella martensii *White Cushion Moss- Leucobryum glaucum *Irish Moss- Pearlwort Sagina subulata
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Grasses/Grass Type Plants
*Dwarf Mondo Grass- 'Nana' Ophiopogon japonicus *Dwarf Fountain Grass- 'Little Bunny' Pennisetum alopecuroides *Buffalo Grass- 'Variegatum' Stenotaphrum secundatum *Sedge Horsetail- Equisetum scirpoides var. striatum
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