Outdoor Fairy Garden

Fairy gardens are the best for a few reasons, fairies are said to help gardens, and DIY fairy gardens especially a miniature garden like this one are easy to put together. A tiny garden like this one is a great idea if you want to enjoy a little bit of gardening and don’t have a lot of available space. It’s a great start to looking after live plants, and unlike a large vegetable garden, you don’t need to wait a long time before you can enjoy your little fairy garden. A fairy garden is an amazing way to spend one day on the weekend, and either find your inner child, surprise the little kids in your life, or make an especially fun Spring activity out of it.

We have a tiny urban yard with a large wonderful dog that has the run of the backyard. It works for us but we don’t have room for a garden space, none, our back deck is where we spend a lot of time outside and an outdoor fairy garden is a fun focal point for our deck. Let me show you how you can create a beautiful fairy garden, with real plants, even if you have a sun-drenched deck like we do.

Welcome to the Fiddle Head Fairy Garden

A fairy garden can be as elaborate or as simple as you choose. You can create a couple of miniature DIY projects for your garden, play with assorted natural materials, or have a lot of fun at the local garden stores, coming up with your fairy garden design and purchasing accessories for your mini garden. In other posts, I have created a fairy door and placed it on a wreath, an indoor fairy garden with a tiny pond and floating candles, and one using a bird’s nest and a teacup. Fairy gardens are magical places where you can create a whimsical little world and make it as fancy, or as simple as you like. This mini fairy garden fits inside a large flower pot, and most of the fairy accessories are purchased. Make sure to take a trip to your local dollar tree for fairy supplies, they often have a great selection. The nursery we went to is way out in the country with lots of different greenhouses and a tiny little shed for the fairy garden products. It’s like walking into a little fantasy world, and I promise the kids love it.

Container Fairy Garden Supplies

You will need a large flower pot big enough to lay on its side—about 18″ across the top and two feet high. You can choose a clay pot or a terra cotta pot for this container garden. Don’t be afraid to use an old pot if you have one in the right shape to lay on its side.

Any fairy garden accessories you like. For a container-sized garden, I suggest having one large central piece like a tiny house or a bed for the fairies to rest in. The small space will fill in before you know it.

Purchase a couple of miniature plants, succulents work very well and are trendy. Your local nursery will likely have a fairy garden section with a selection of different plants set aside for a fairy garden, they can direct you to. They may even have a DIY kit for a fairy garden you can purchase. Try and pick flowers with small blooms, because your plants will grow. You could put a small flower in the back of your container garden so that it looks like a tree, make sure if you’re using a plant for the back of the pot it likes shade.

Collect a few small fairy items you enjoy, I always have one or two fairies in my garden, and have my little granddaughters place them for me. Whatever small fairy items you enjoy. I always like to place in a couple of little fairies and ask my granddaughters if they can find them. My little girls wanted the hobbit fairy hut, but a fairy garden door in the back of the pot would be a good idea, and take up less real estate.

My fairy items came from a local greenhouse. they have a special greenhouse set aside for them. But, I have seen all sorts of fairy garden accessories at both Michael’s in Canada, Hobby Lobby in the USA and Dollar Tree if they aren’t sold out. Our local dollar store has a good selection of different ideas you could customize to make them special

After purchasing the various fairy items the whole thing only takes about half an hour to make, and that was with little girl helpers.

Setting up the Garden Pot

Start by taking a large garden pot and turning it on its side so it’s like a cave. As the bottom of the pot won’t have drainage holes, fill the bottom of the pot with rocks for drainage and then add your potting soil. Have some fun designing your fairy’s new home. Begin with the largest fairy accessories first, followed by the plants, and then add your final touches.

Caring for Succulents

The most common problem with small succulents is rot so you want good drainage. Succulents tolerate dry soil for a day or two but should receive regular watering. Once the soil is dry, water the plants very well and let them dry out again before re-watering. I also added some live moss beside the fairy house, it looks like a small bush and hopefully will grow to cover the house.

Fairy gardens are easy for children to participate in and their friends can be challenged to locate the little figures.

Our yard has very little shade, so this style of fairy garden works well. The depth of the pot provides the required shade, and my little plants don’t wilt.

DIY Fairy Picket Fence

It’s a little bit difficult to see, but the back of my garden has a small DIY fairy picket fence made by wrapping little twigs together with copper wire. It’s snuck right into the back of my pot as a last-minute suggestion from my girls. When we went to purchase our fairy supplies, we fell in love with some adorable tiny trolls, and the Beware of Troll sign you can see on the right side. My girls thought it would be fun to have a fence to put the trolls in for a timeout if they got bad.

Other DIY Fairy Garden Ideas