Fairy gardens are gaining in popularity, and are a fun and creative way to enjoy gardening throughout the year. In fairy gardening, everything is miniature sized, so you don’t need a lot of space just a lot of imagination!

There is an entire section in the garden centre dedicated to fairy gardening. You can purchase tiny fairies, said to have magical powers, fairy furniture and homes, bridges, walkways, ponds, etc., and all kinds of accessories.

When starting a fairy garden, start with the container. It can be any type or style of container, provided that has drainage. You could use a ceramic or plastic pot, wicker basket, or even a terrarium. Let your imagination be the guide. If you are using an unconventional container you could first place a regular container such as a clay pot and saucer inside the unconventional container to make planting and caring for the container more easy. Containers that do not have drainage holes should have a 5cm layer of rocks or pebbles placed in the bottom of the container and then a piece of landscape fabric that is cut to the size of the container or a coffee filter, is placed over the rocks, and then the soil is placed on top of the landscape fabric.

After you have chosen the container, the next step is picking out the fairy or fairies, accessories and plants. Choose all the fairies and accessories at the same scale in size as this will make the garden look like it goes together. When it comes to picking out the plants, you want to look for plants that are slow growing, naturally stay small and have the same growing conditions such as light and moisture. When they begin to out grow their space they can be either trimmed back or changed out for a new plant.

When you have everything picked out, it is time to put it all together. Fill the container with a high quality indoor potting soil and then arrange the accessories and plants. Don’t plant anything until you are sure that you are satisfied with the arrangement. When everything is where you want it, you are ready to plant. Next place and anchor all the fairy accessories, and cover the exposed soil with pebbles, colourful sand, moss etc., and then add the final touches, and don’t forget the fairies!

Care for the fairy garden as you would any tropical plant. Give it the required light, and water and fertilize carefully. Feel free to change your fairy garden and add or take out accessories and plants.

Remember to have have and let your imagination go!