How to create your own mini garden
Earlier this year I was asked to decorate a doll’s house for a charity auction. I loved it so much and spent way too much time re-covering tiny sofas, making tiny cushions and a tiny balsa-wood bookshelf with tiny versions of my books sitting on the shelves. Things got a tiny bit out of control! If I didn’t have a deadline to get it finished, I would have spent all my time on it. I could have happily made it my new career.
Once the doll’s house went off to its new home, I realised a few things: 1. The seven-year-old child inside of me is still alive and well. 2. I’ve never gotten over my love for all things miniature. 3. There was a giant hole left in my life where the doll’s house project had been … So, I moved on to the next miniature thing I could get my hands on – a miniature garden. I made this at home, and Ari loved it so much he made one as well. It’s a really great project to do with kids.
You will need:
- pencil and paper
- a large vessel (I used a large enamel baking dish that I bought from an op shop and drilled holes in the bottom for drainage)
- a variety of small plants with varying heights, colours and widths (work out if your garden will be inside/outside/in the shade/full sun, and buy plants accordingly – bonsai plants can work well)
- potting mix
- small trowel
- a variety of mosses (I gathered moss from the alleyways behind my house and kept it very moist and in a dark spot until I needed it)
- rocks for stepping-stone path
- pebbles (I used 2 different sizes: very small and tiny)
- 12–15 toothpicks for fence
- scraps of fabric and small twigs for tepee
Method:
1. Draw out a loose plan for your mini garden. Decide where the different plants will sit, how the path will work, where the small pebbles will go and where the teepee will sit.
2. Pot the larger plants in the vessel first, adding extra potting mix under and around the plants as needed.
3. If you are using moss, gently press it into the dirt around the plants, remembering to leave space for the path.
4. Using the rocks, make a stepping-stone path.
5. Add the small and tiny pebbles around the path and any areas around the plants and moss where the dirt is showing.
6. To make the fence, stick the toothpicks into the dirt. Trim the length of the toothpicks if required. Place the toothpicks in a line, spacing them fairly close together so they resemble a fence.
7. To make the teepee, break or cut three twigs so they are even in length. Wind a thin strip of fabric around the top of the twigs to hold them in place.
8. Cut a piece of fabric and wrap it around the twigs to create a cover. Secure the fabric in place by tying a strip of fabric around the top. Trim the fabric as required. Place the teepee in the garden by gently pressing the twigs into the moss and dirt.
Image credit: Chris Middleton
This is an edited extract from Sunshine Spaces by Beci Orpin published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $39.99 and is available in stores nationally.