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Fairy gardening is one of the most fun, rewarding and easy ways to garden. The joy of creating them is as much fun as watching them grow. The options for what specific style are endless. Consider things you might not have thought of as a typical "fairy" garden. I once did a graveyard themed garden for my Halloween loving sister! For a cousin I created a pasture and horse themed landscape. But my passion is for a classic fairy garden scene.
Whatever theme excites your imagination, so many cheap, free and interesting materials are out there to make it look cute and charming. The houses, bridges and everything else that are sold specifically for fairy gardens are so cute and fun, but quickly add up! Thankfully, much less expensive materials can create the scene you imagine.
Build Your Base
Decide on some basics right off. Fairy gardens can be created in very small pots or take up an entire garden bed outside. The smaller the garden, the simpler the scene should be to create a harmonious effect. What type of setting are you thinking about? A beach? A bench in the woods? A little cottage with a pond? The options are endless. Pinterest is full of great ideas to help.
Landscaping
Though plants and the decorative items are what is most noticeable in a fairy garden, the landscape materials you use between your plants and underneath your decorative items is essential to create the general scene. Material such as gravel, mulch or moss pull together your garden to make it a unified design and cover over the soil. One or more of these components can be used together to create paths, streams, "grassy" areas, etc. that will give your garden a more interesting and sophisticated look.
A forest scene can use very well-broken wood chips. For a small garden, picking up a few sticks outside and shredding yourself is very easy. Break with your hands and then trim with scissors when it gets small enough.
Pea gravel can be purchased in 5 lb. bags in just about any hardware store, big-box home improvement store or garden center. It is insanely cheap and goes a long way.
For smaller gardens, especially, tiny polished rocks are amazing. They run a bit more expensive, but are well worth the bright effect they can create. Blue rocks can be also be used to create a stream or pond.
Fish tank rocks are cheap and readily available. I often find them in thrift stores, too. Avoid the brightest of colors unless it fits into the overall theme of the garden.
White Sand is fabulous for a beach theme. Small shells as accent pieces work well with this scene.
Plants
In a fairy garden, it's ironic that the plants are often not the central focus. Look for plants that tend to stay small, have small leaves, or can be easily pruned to stay tiny. If the garden is indoors, unless you have a bright sunny South or West-facing window, plan on low-light tolerant plants. If the garden is outdoors, you'll have the option of planting both annual and perennial flowers and plants, but also take into account their light needs.
Some indoor favorites of mine include, Baby's Tears, nearly any succulent and ferns. Plants can now be easily ordered online, but also are available in most garden stores and even many grocery store floral areas.
My outdoor garden has several trees that I trim annually to create a bonsai effect. Thyme is an excellent plant, as well. Be warned that thyme can spread fast, though and should be trimmed back regularly. Hens and Chicks and Sedum Blue Carpet are some of my favorites. They're not aggressive, but will spread. Sedum Blue Carpet self-seeds in small erratic patches that has a very natural effect. Annuals, such as the more petite zinnias, marigolds, coleus and plants with small leaves and flowers work quite well.
Accent Items
These are the pieces of your garden that will become the most expensive very quickly. But these are also items that can be found in unexpected places for free or much less.
Making It Natural
Free items that are so cute and create quite a natural effect. They can be found all around you! Small and medium-sized stones, interesting tiny pieces of drift wood or a tiny lichen-covered branch, moss and pieces of lichen all can be used throughout your gardens. Stones can be used to create stepping stones or added to look like a boulder. A larger flat rock can be a patio. Moss can be dug up from under a tree and if kept moist and not in hot sun, will thrive and create a beautiful effect. These items give gardens a much more authentic touch, than those that include none of them.
Bridges and benches are also easy to make simple and rustic versions. A sturdy and flat wood chip with 4 twigs hot glued to the underside makes a charming bench. The same type of chunk of wood or thick bark cut or gently torn in the shape of a bridge, with or without adding rails is beautiful.
All Those Fun Little Pieces
Christmas village items are often much less expensive than those sold specifically for fairy gardens. Benches and light posts are especially easy to find. Items with only a small amount of "snow" can often be touched up with a permanent marker. Along those same lines, items sold for model train sets can sometimes be found at a real bargain rate!
Buy a bag of craft wood pieces to create your own signs, tables, chairs, roof tiles or anything else you can dream up. They're versatile and very cheap to buy a big bag that you'll probably never run out of. Get them at craft stores or online.
Houses
Houses are typically one of the most expensive items added to fairy gardens. But cute houses can be made very easily. Birdhouses are often found at thrift stores and can be quickly transformed into amazing houses. Many are already intended to decorative and require very little modification. Others need a bit more work, but they start as the basic structure that saves enormous amounts of money over commercially-available houses. The biggest need for all is to find something to craft a door over the bird-entrance and you're half way there. I've used pieces of cut craft wood, painted with a rock glued on for a handle. I've also used bark trimmed into a door with a rock or small piece of wood as a handle. it depends on your theme and the style of the house.
Rustic looking houses are easy to create by gluing some moss on the roof or sides, as well as bark and sticks. Birch bark works very well and can be torn in layers and cut with scissors. Bags of different types of moss are not very expensive and available online or in craft stores. Small decorative birdhouses available from most craft stores are cheap and versatile. Paint or stain and cover with moss, bark and small stones, it's simple to create the effect you're going for. Hot glue works very well to attach everything, but won't hold up as well outside.
If you've had your eye on creating a fairy garden, these inexpensive and free materials can help you make the scene that you're looking for. One of the best things about these types of gardens is that they're easy to update and change around periodically to create a new and unique look.