When I was a kid I loved reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. I wedged my fingers between multiple pages so I could go back and see if I could have made it out alive or with a bag of treasure, if only I made a better choice earlier.
Planting itty bitty plants in a pot is a little like choosing your own adventure. You’re the author of your character’s adventure and creating a living scene to tell a story. That’s the main reason I think tiny container gardens are so satisfying to grow.
You are the storyteller and can do whatever you want.
Choose Your Theme & Container
Wee gardens allow space for imaginative play and reflection of your personality. What story or fairy tale do you love? Maybe it’s a dinosaur crashing through a lush jungle or a wizard army attacking a castle fortress.
For me, I can’t resist Totoro’s cuddly personality, and I can’t be wrong since millions of other fans also enjoy the movie. If you aren’t familiar, Totoro is a character in the 1988 animated film My Neighbor Totoro.
Choose Your Plants
Consider where your character would live. Is your scene in a dry, sandy desert or a lush, green jungle?
Totoro lives in a magical forest and needs lots of leafy green plants. I’ll select a mossy type of plant to cover the soil surface. Plus, I’ll include accent plants that look like small forest trees and bushes.
Plants I’ll Use:
- Scotch Moss – as a grassy/mossy forest floor.
- Succulents – tiny sedum, crassula, echeveria and sempervivum as trees/bushes. Learn how to start your own baby succulent plants.
Tamawi’s Tip: Your wee garden doesn’t have to be entirely filled with plants. You can use pebbles to define spaces around small houses, colored glass or mirrors to simulate rivers or place sand to look like a beach.
Choose Your Story
- Fill your selected container with potting soil, leaving an inch of space below the rim. This makes it easier to water your wee garden because the water won’t overflow.
- Decide on a general layout and where the large structures, such as a house or a bridge, will set.
- Plant the major feature plants. A plant that will act as a “tree” takes up more space and should be planted before the smaller plants.
- Plant low-growing plants that will cover the soil over time. If you decide not to use groundcover plants, now is the time to fill in and define areas with gravel or sand.
- Define your wee garden with a stepping stone path and any small accessories you selected. You can also add figurines to tell the story of what is happening in your little garden scene.
- Water well after planting. Stick to a regular watering schedule of every two to seven days, depending how long it takes for the top inch of soil to be dry to the touch.
I love to super accessorize my wee garden with tiny items. I thoroughly encourage repurposing marbles, glass stones, painted rocks, buttons and other found objects in your own wee garden.
How did your wee garden turn out? Tell us what theme you chose and if you escaped from your adventure with all the loot in the comments below!