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Enchant Yourself
Every time I publish something about fairy gardens, many of you come out of the woodwork like sprites in the forest to declare your never-ending love for miniature worlds.
This post is excerpted with permission from Fairy Gardening 101: How to Design, Plant, Grow, and Create Over 25 Miniature Gardens by Fiona McDonald. Copyright 2014, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Some links go to Amazon.com where I am an affiliate. I always suggest you buy local wherever possible.
Basic Fairy Gardens
The best way to learn about fairy gardening is to roll up your shirt sleeves and make your own. Keep your first garden simple, as you can always add to it later as you gain more confidence and experience.
It is important to remember that there is a difference between a simple potted garden and a fairy garden. A potted garden consists of just plants while a fairy garden requires the gardener to imagine (and plan for) building an environment for tiny people who will want to do some of the things humans do in the garden: sit, swing, lie in a hammock, sip cool drinks, and enjoy the ever changing light playing through leaves and flowers.
The first garden we are going to make is super easy. It only requires a pot, potting soil, a small selection of plants, tiny cork tiles, pebbles, shells, a wire chair, and a fairy of your choosing.
You can imagine how excited my granddaughter Isabelle (Izzy) was when she learned that her granny was writing a book all about making fairy gardens! Of course, we had to begin with a garden that was all her own and one that is easy for any child to make.
Just follow these simple steps and you’ll be well on your way to a fabulous and enchanted fairy garden!
- Because we were in such a rush to start Izzy’s garden we did not wait to go and buy a special pot. Instead, we used one that was lurking behind a pile of boxes in the shed. Izzy had a choice of rectangular or round and she chose rectangular. After brushing away the dust and cobwebs (which was Granny’s job, of course) we filled the pot with potting soil. We used a low-priced brand from the garden center.
- We did, however, have to go to the store soon after getting the pot ready in order to buy some plants. At the nursery, we chose some polyanthus because they had just come into season in the early spring. Polyanthus are very colorful and hardy and are also inexpensive, so perfect plants to use on a budget. There were some miniature box plants on sale, too, and we chose one of those as well as some tiny containers with a special grass in them. Of course we bought more than we needed for one small garden and Izzy had some tough decisions to make.
- Before planting, the potting soil needs a drop of water so that the newly uprooted plants won’t get too big a shock when inserted in new dirt.
- Now it is time to get down to business. Children will probably need help digging holes and inserting plants into them, depending on their age and experience. Be sure to give the plants plenty of room and back fill the holes carefully, patting the earth down to make it firm.
- Isabelle planted three plants in a row at the back of her pot and a second tuft of grass in front of the first. This is so she can make a real feature of the path she wants to put along the front of the garden.
- Now comes the really exciting part that turns a pot of plants into a magical fairy garden. Isabelle started to place her cork circles on the soil to create a path. She pushed the little tiles down into the soil as best she could to make them look as though they were paving stones. Then Isabelle decided to see how a border of little shells would look beside the cork path.
- Finally, there were only two more things needed to complete the garden: a fairy chair (the instructions for making this and other pieces of garden furniture are given in chapter 15) and the fairy herself. (Isabelle later removed the fairy (a resin replica) so that real fairies wouldn’t be afraid to come and use the garden.)
- And voila! A beautiful—and simple—fairy garden that is perfect for any beginner—child or adult!
I hope you found this excerpt valuable. If you enjoyed it, consider getting the book from Amazon or your local library.
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
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Original article and pictures take empressofdirt.net site
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