The fairy garden master in our house, Fie Fie, has put together a fairy garden tutorial for our readers... not that anyone asked us how to make fairy gardens, but it's so fun we just can't help it! And also because, you know, we just don't have enough fairy garden posts on the blog yet!

The first thing in making a fairy garden is to choose a container.  Here's where you can get a little creative and choose pots in any shapes and sizes. The material can be porcelain, terra cotta, cement, metal, or in this case, a wood box with pre-drilled holes!

The materials we need to make a simple fairy garden are fairies (of course), plants, potting soil, fertilizer, decorative rocks or gravel, a small garden shear, and gardening gloves.

Tips for selecting fairy garden plants:

When selecting plants for the fairy garden, we usually choose a varieties of miniature trees and flowers. It is very important to not mix plants that do well with shades with plants that do well under full sun. Read the labels carefully to select the right kind of plants for your fairy garden!

Bonsai nurseries are great places to find miniature trees. Small sized, slow growing perennial plants are also perfect candidates for the fairies!

Now first thing first, let's fill the container with potting soil almost to the top...

Remove the miniature tree from its plastic container. In this case, I am using a catline elm in my fairy garden. Loosen up the roots by making a few small cuts with a garden shear around the roots to stimulate new growth.

Select the most attractive angle for the tree to be placed in the fairy garden, then shape the tree by lightly pruning off small, out of place branches.

At the same time you can mix a little handful of fertilizer into the soil. I use Osmocote because it doesn't burn the plants, but organic fertilizer spikes are also a great way to go.

To make things simple, I am just covering the remaining part of the container with Isotoma, a prennial ground cover that also produce tiny star like flowers, and adding a couple of small accent perennials and a little metal fence to the back!

After all the plants are put in place, cover the remaining bare soil area with decorative stones. It's not only aesthetically pleasing to add small stones to the fairy garden, but it also prevents the soil from running up when you water the container. Don't worry about soil spilling over onto the plants or that you might miss a tiny small space somewhere around the back, once you water the fairy garden, things will even out and clear up a lot better:) When you are done watering the container, go ahead and get to the best part of making a fairy garden: adding fairies and miniature accessories to the fairy garden.

There you have it! Tah Dah!

Finally, give the fairy garden a good amount of water, place it in the appropriate spot where it will get enough sun light, and happy fairy gardening!