How To Build A Fairy Garden

Wow!

As requested, I thought I would just show you how I built my fairy garden.

I decided that I wanted a rather large container for mine,

one that I could keep outdoors in the spring, summer and fall,

and then move into the greenhouse in the winter

(in an attempt to keep the non-hardy plants...

otherwise it could stay out all year long).

I also wanted something rustic.

(like me....rustic!)

And because I love, love, love power tools

I decided to build my own.

I used 1 X 6 pressure treated fence boards

that we had in our barn for the entire box.

I liked the grey patina from being weathered.

You can use any type of container that you want...

for instance, a half whiskey barrel would work great,

as well as a large pot, or an old wash tub....

just about anything!

I took 3... 2 ft. boards and attached them to two smaller strips of board

to hold them together like a pallet.

This became the base of my garden.

Two more two foot boards were screwed onto the base 

perpendicularly to make the front and back.

Using 1X6's will give your box a depth of about 5 inches.

Then I screwed two 1 1/2 foot boards to the sides.

The legs are four 2 foot boards, two screwed to the front corners

and two screwed to the back corners.

A piece of fine mesh screen lines the bottom to keep soil

from washing out between the small spaces between the bottom boards.

I found this little glow in the dark moon stake at our local garden center.

Now, for plants.....

When you shop for plants,
look for ones that are small (of course) but resemble something larger.
Try to get a variety of color in your plants.

I used several different types of ferns (top left corner)
a tiny evergreen bush (top right corner)
rosemary (around the evergreen)
baby's tears (bottom left)
wooly thyme (bottom center)
another type of thyme (bottom right)

It will be necessary to occasionally prune your plants to keep them
small and shaped how you wish.

Terrarium plants work well, because they are very small in stature.
I chose plants that all liked either filtered light or part sun/part shade...
as my fairy garden box is sitting on the shady side of the garden shed.

The cottage that I ordered looks like this...

And it arrived yesterday, so here is the completed garden....

(click on the picture for a larger version)

 I ordered the cottage HERE.

Other accessories are available HERE  and HERE .

Check out this garden at The Fairy's Garden.

For a touch of whimsy in your fairy garden, check out Whimsical Fairy Gardens.

Here are whimsical fairy houses made from gourds...  Whimsical Fairy.
(wish I had seen these first...I would have tried this....
an idea for the next garden!)

If you build a fairy garden....
be sure to send me pictures!!

PS.....

Rooster number 6 is in love!!
He continues to make the run to the barn each morning,
spending the day with his "hen du jour".

and then returning to the rest of the Frat Pack for the night.

By the way, the Roos are enthralled with the "peeps" who now

have the freedom to wander out into their yard.

Also....

This weekend I will be using the tomatillos that I harvested to make

a batch of tomatillo apple salsa.

I'll let you know how that turns out!

And, last, but never least....

Tyler!

Here he is outside our guest house, where he lives part of the time.

We had just gotten back from visiting with all of the animals and

exploring the garden.

One of his favorite things is to pick tomatoes...

and EAT them!

"There's nothing better than a fresh picked tomato from Grammie's garden",

he said and then made his best Popeye face.....

Have a great weekend!!