This garden project is very dear to me because it is part of my fairy fantasy and part of what I grew up with. I inherited the love for gardening from my parents. We had around 200 types of plants from flowers and herbs to bonsai at our rooftop. We had peacocks, squirrels, birds and monkeys as surprise visitors every now and then. Taking care of our little rooftop garden was part of our chores and me and my elder sister hated it. That is until we got older.
Now I’m managing a small garden in my patio. I have potted several varieties of flowers, grow vegetables and herbs. I love houseplants too as it promotes health, gives depth to the space and has decorative value. It fills my heart with a sense of pride, peace, and relaxation to witness them blooming and sprouting.
Coming back to the point it’s my first attempt in ‘themed garden in a pot’. I saw a video on facebook sometime back and was super inspired. So finally I thought of trying my hand at it and visited Lowe’s and Walmart to collect all I needed.
Here is the list of things I bought and used in the making:
Lowe’s
- Tete-a-tete Daffodil – $ 1.98
- Dianthus – $ 1.98
- Dracaena Godseffiana – $ 3.48
- Schefflera “Moon Drop” – $ 3.48
Check the tags on the plants for tips on how much water and sunlight they require. Mine are all mix of full sun, high light, medium light and part sun with little variation of water requirements. But they all are thriving well with each other. I keep them well hydrated and expose them to indirect sunlight from 2:30pm till 7:30pm as l have west facing house.
- White Pot – $ 14.98
Make sure there is hole at the bottom of the pot. This will allow excess water to drain through the soil easily. Place a saucer under the pot to avoid leaking.
Choose a pot that you find appealing – simple or decorative. You can buy wooden/ clay/ plastic or resin pots of any size you want. Plastic and resin pots are lightweight and are easy to move or hang whereas wood and clay pots are heavy though sturdier.
Walmart
- Toy Fairy Castle – $ 5.97
- Mini Craft Sticks – $ 1.97
- Brown Acrylic Paint (to paint mini craft sticks as fence)
- Aquarium Gravel
- Troll
- Fairies (Funville Sparkle Girls)
- Pink Sequin Ribbon (100% acrylic)
I used my collection of shells from Anna Maria beach, Florida and a conifer fruit for troll which is found in abundance in Michigan and used few plastic ferns too.
It’s very important to find a good potting mix. It’s not advisable to use your garden soil as we are using potted plants here and they need loose and light soil texture. I have used Miracle-Gro Potting Mix. You can buy soil mix from Lowe’s/ Home Depot/ Walmart/ local garden etc. Try to look for a soil mix that includes fertilizers and organic matter.
I started with filling one fourth of the pot with soil. Placed Dracaena Godseffiana, Daffodil and Moon Drop at the other end of the pot, accommodating the root ball of each one of them and filled with more soil for the support. Next l planted six Dianthus in a row creating a boundary and patted down soil lightly with fingers to push out any pockets of air. We need to lightly water the plants at this point since potting mix soils are loose and airy and it will get pushed down with water weight. If the soil depresses more than you planned then adjust by adding more soil on top of it.
Once done with potting of the plants start with the other half of the pot. I wanted to place toys on a lower ground hence l added less soil in the front to create a lower landscape. Now comes the decorating part finally! “The pot with fairy theme”. Yey!!!! I erected a fence of mini sticks by Dianthus line. Then pressed my “treasured hand-picked” shells to cover the soil and also to prevent water-soil running down to fairy picnic spot (we don’t want that to happen ever :p ). Fixed the fairy castle at one side and further filled the visible soil with aquarium gravel. Gently placed the pink sequin on the gravel for the fairies to chill out. At the back of the pot I placed a conifer fruit and put our tiny troll on top of it. And lastly for the final touch propped the plastic ferns around the castle and at the back. There it completes the look l finally wanted, and ta-daaa we’re done!
You can now make your own version, and can use my project as a guideline and do even better! I’m going to buy a stand this weekend and flaunt the mini garden pot in my living room. I really enjoyed this mini garden project and hope you guys do too.
P.S. Keep the soil moist, but do not saturate it too much and avoid spilling water on toys. Keep in mind the watering instructions that come with the plant. Trim away any dry or dead leaves. Mine needs a little trimming too! 😀
Xoxo
Tripti
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