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[Music] How to plant a miniature barn yard garden.
This tutorial will show you step by step how to plant a miniature barnyard garden.
Use tiny plants and rooted cuttings for trees and bushes or sow seeds that will grow into
a crop for your farm. Watch your children enjoy creative gardening
on a small scale. For the barn yard garden you will need:
One high sided loose bottomed square cake pan.
Some gravel. Some all purpose potting mix.
A small glass or plastic container for the pond.
A handful of blue glass pebbles. Some small twigs and sticks.
A pair of scissors. A glue gun or multi purpose glue.
Some small aquarium gravel. Some scraps of material.
One unripe cherry tomato. A selection of small barnyard toys and animals.
Some carpet moss. Some cress.
Two thyme plants. Tymus Doone Valley and Thymus Praecox Elfin
are good choices for scale. A selection of small foliage plants and succulent
cuttings. A bottle of liquid plant food.
Step one: Create the foundations.
A cake pan with a loose bottom is perfect for drainage but add drainage holes if using
a different container. Cover the base with a level of gravel for
extra drainage. Step two:
Add a layer of all purpose potting mix over the gravel, gently tapping the container when
all the potting mix is in it to disperse any air and allow it to settle evenly.
Create a mound for the hill and leave a gap of one inch or two and a half centimeters
from the top of the container to help with watering.
Step three: Make a space in the potting mix and add the
container you are using for the pond. Step four:
Add blue glass pebbles to the bowl to create your water.
Step five: Make a fence by cutting twigs to similar sizes
for the uprights with longer pieces for the crossbars and glue it all together. A glue
gun is useful for this but not essential. Step six:
Start to lay out your landscaping features such as the fence and add pathways made from
small aquarium gravel before you start adding plants.
Step seven: Use carpet moss as your grass and cover hills
and fields leaving spaces for plants. Step eight:
To make a scarecrow, use a twig for the body, glue two twigs at one end for the legs then
glue another twig horizontally to make the arms.
Lay the scarecrow on scraps of material and cut around to make the clothes.
Cut out two identical shapes for each item. Dot with glue and around the edges and stick
together. Pop a green tomato on top of the stick for
the head. Step nine:
Add plants in scale with your other decorations to act as trees, shrubs and crops.
Finally, add your scarecrow and any selection of small toys and pour some water in to the
pond. Take care of your barnyard:
With a little regular care your miniature barnyard garden can be enjoyed throughout
the year. Watering:
Plants will need watering once or twice a week, more often in the summer. But do not
water too much. Feeding:
Add liquid plant food to the water monthly in spring and summer, but do not feed plants
during their dormant season. Water only sparingly. Place the barnyard on a tray to protect surfaces.
General care: Depending on the plants used, you can keep
your miniature barnyard outside during spring and summer but move indoors and Keep somewhere
cool during fall and winter. Keep plants trimmed keeping the shape as natural
as possible. Some plants will eventually need to be moved
to larger containers when they outgrow their space. Simply replace them with smaller plants.