Miniature gardens combine two of the most mindful past-times – gardening and making miniatures! There are lots of different ways to make a miniature garden – but the accessories you add can create a real personal touch, whether your garden follows a particular theme or if it’s just full of your favourite things.
You can buy miniature garden accessories, and I’ve included some of my favourite purchases below, or you can be extra crafty and make your own.
My children love making miniature gardens so I’ve put together a list below of things we’ve bought, things we’ve made and things we’ve repurposed to use in our miniature gardens.
1. Miniature Garden Tools
No garden would be complete without tools to keep everything looking beautiful and tiny gardens are no exception.
In the video below, the crafter makes a tiny shovel and digging fork using a metal sheet and what looks like kebab skewers. It’s not clear what sheet metal the crafter is using, but metal for jewellery making or crafting should work just as well.
You can buy sheet metal for crafting from places such as Etsy (like these stainless steel sheets), or from specialist jewellery making suppliers, such as these sheets from Kernowcraft. Kernowcraft even sell recycled metal sheets for a more eco friendly choice!
I cheated on this one and bought myself this really cute miniature set of Etsy for just £4, which also came with a basket of carrots and a tiny garden wall. I’m not quite sure why a saw is included in a miniature garden set, but it doesn’t matter as it’s adorable!
2. Miniature Vegetable Plots
I have an allotment (a real one, not a miniature one!) so I love tiny vegetable plots. I bought this miniature raised bed from Etsy and it’s adorable.
It is super simple though so I decided to have a go at making one myself out of lolly sticks, polymer clay, packing material and paint.
All I did to make this miniature raised bed is:
I just cut two lolly sticks intoe
- cut two lolly sticks in half and snip off the curved ends
- glue these together to make a square
- cut some foam packing material so it fits into the lolly stick square
- paint the foam brown (the good thing about foam is that as it has an uneven surface, the paint also looks uneven which makes it look more like soil)
- make some teeny vegetables – I made my ‘cabbages’ out of polymer clay. I originally wrapped the clay around a cut up cocktail stick but this proved to be way too fiddly, so I just ended up glueing them to the foam.
As you can see, it has potential but lacks a little polish! With more time and better polymer clay skills though, I think this would be a super easy way to add a raised bed to a miniature garden.
You can make all of the soil out of polymer clay too, as you can see in the video below. What I love about this tutorial is that you can actually harvest the teeny carrots!
3. Tiny Seats And Benches
Miniature gardeners need to rest too so many mini gardens also include seating. Seats or a bench are a great way to add a personal touch to your garden – you could add some tiny accessories such as a mini book, sunglasses or garden tools.
The easier way to make a seat is to use lolly sticks or coffee stirrers. Hobby Vlogs on YouTube, the same channel that make the fence tutorial above, also do a great tutorial for making chairs that can be used for mini gardens. These chairs are quite large (for miniatures anyway!) but are super easy to make, so it might be worth seeing if the size could be scaled down.
The tutorial below uses a very similar technique, but to a smaller scale so more suited to miniature gardens that would fit Sylvanian Families sized characters.
Wooden benches and chairs have a rustic feel to them so if you want something a bit fancier, you could try making mini metal patio furniture. In the video below, the incredibly talented crafter makes a miniature patio set out of metal and wood, it even has a parasol that can open and close! This patio set is on a 1:24 scale so is ideal for smaller miniature gardens.
For the ultimate in rustic miniature seating, you could make a teeny stool out of a button and some sticks. This took all of two minutes to make the stool below in between homeschooling, it would be more suited to a fairy garden but with a bit more time, it could be made to look a little less rustic!
4. Miniature Lanterns And Lights
OK, so this is more for fairy gardens than regular miniature gardens, but these lanterns are so cute, who cares?!
If you wanted some lighting that would look a little more at home in a regular garden than a fairy garden, there are still lots of options.
I made this little lamp out of four buttons and a bead and finished it off with some black paint. It took about 5 minutes to make and is a great way to add a DIY lantern to your miniature garden. You could even attach a few of them to wire posts like the lanterns in the above tutorial.
I have to confess that I didn’t come up with the idea myself though, and you can find a full tutorial here. It’s worth having a look through her blog as she has some really great tutorials for making simple miniatures that look sensational.
I found this beautiful dollhouse lamp from the online shop The Dolls House Emporium, so if you don’t want to make your own, this would be a lovely addition to your garden. The lights are battery operated, so you could buy a few to light up a garden path or to highlight a miniature bench.
5. Mini Koi Pond
When I was little I was obsessed with the realistic water in the Border Fine Arts sculptures in our local department store (Google ‘Border Fine Arts pond’ if you don’t know what I’m talking about!)
There’s something about capturing the realism of water that adds life to a miniature model. Most model water is made from epoxy resin, but I’ve also seen tutorials, like the ones below, which use clear nail varnish instead.
I tried this myself and the results were not great – it was a smelly and expensive experiment!
Epoxy resins are intended to be used as a coating or sealant, but because it dries glossy and transparent, it’s also used to create water effects.
I wanted to add a koi pond to my miniature garden, and although I haven’t got to the resin stage yet, I have got a few miniature kois ready to make a little pond their home.
I bought a koi carp silicone mould off Etsy for a couple of pounds and was a bit wary at first as I’ve used tiny moulds before and had disastrous, fiddly consequences!
This mould was super easy to use though! I used a ball tool to press the polymer clay into the mould and all three of the teeny koi carps were baked to perfection in about 15 minutes. Below are the results of the first go with the moulds – next time I’ll add eyes and also cut the excess clay off the edges once they’re baked.
If you want to learn how to make a koi pond from a professional, then check out this tutorial from SugarCharmShop. I’ve linked to this crafter loads of times before because her work is awesome, and this carp pond is no exception!
The tutorial even includes instructions on how to make the fish, rather than using a mould.
6. Tiny Watering Can
Out of all the miniature garden accessories, watering cans are the the most readily available to buy online. I particularly love this cute little one on Etsy.
There are a few tutorials on DIY miniature watering cans too – this one is great as it’s made out of recycled materials. It’s probably a little big for many miniature gardens but I bet it’s easy to scale down the size of it using the same process.
Another option for recycling materials is to transform an empty drinks can into a miniature watering can! There’s a high chance I’d slice a chunk out of my fingers making these, but if you’re careful then this is a fantastic and virtually free way of making a miniature watering can.
For added detail, you could even fill your miniature watering can with resin to make it look like it’s full of water.
You can paint your watering can any colour you like, I love the create cuteness of this teeny polkadot watering can. something like this could be perfect for a kids’ miniature garden.
7. Small Scale Garden Fences
Garden fences are essential for bringing a miniature garden together and they are suer easy to make and easy to put your own spin on too.
There are loads of tutorials out there for how to make a DIY miniature garden fence and most of them involve lolly sticks or coffee stirrers. They vary from basic designs with lolly sticks stuck together, to more intricate designs with painted lolly sticks attached with wire.
In the tutorial below, the crafter uses coffee stirrers cut to size and cut into a point. She then sticks them vertically onto uncut coffee stirrers to create the fence. She then paints them in beautiful pastel colours.
Using wire can give your fence a unique and realistic look. It’s fiddlier than just glueing the fence posts but it’s worth trying if you fancy more of a challenge.
If you prefer written instructions to following a video, then checkout this step-by-step written guide to making a miniature fence with lolly sticks and wire.
If you’re planning to do a Halloween style miniature garden then the tutorial below will help you. This spooky fence would look fantastic in a creepy garden or an over grown garden.
8. Mini Birdhouse
A cute little birdhouse will be the perfect finishing touch to a miniature garden and the options for making and placing a birdhouse are endless.
You could pop one on a post, attach one to a miniature tree or stick it to a tiny potting shed. You could even add tiny birds.
The main material option for making a miniature birdhouse is wood and there are lots of cool tutorials to try making a wooden birdhouse yourself.
In the tutorial below for a 1:24 scale bird box, the crafter uses 10mm by 10mm pieces of wood to make this adorable bird box. It’s hollow inside so technically it’s a working bird box!
For a slightly bigger bird box in a different material, this 12:1 scale polymer clay bird box is a great alternative to a wooden one. The best part is you can make it out of any colour clay and finish it however you want!
For the ultimate in lazy crafting, you could use a stamp on polymer clay to create the front of a bird box. I did the one below when I was experimenting with stamps and polymer clay (follow the link to find out more!) and it would be really simple to cut the other sides, roof and bottom to create a bird box shape.
To keep things really simple, you could make a miniature bird box out of card. In the example in the link, the crafter has made a bird box out of card and attached it to a post in their tiny garden. Follow the link to view this beautiful little garden and pick up lots more DIY tips.
9. Mini Wheelbarrow
I use my wheelbarrow every time I go to our allotment so it’s a must-have for a miniature garden. There are loads of different options for materials and styles for miniature wheelbarrows – some are made from sticks and twigs, whereas others are made of metal sheets, I’ve even seen one made of drinking straws!
In the video below, the crafter has made a miniature wheelbarrow out of sticks and the wheel is made from a circle of wood. It’s probably the cheapest option for making your own mini wheelbarrow.
The excellent website Hobbies And Crafts has a great tutorial for making a mini wheelbarrow out of copper metal sheet and polymer clay, you can view it here. This is definitely something I’d like to try myself!
10. Tiny Trees, Bushes And Shrubs
Depending on the size of your miniature garden, you might want to add real plants to it. This is a lovely way to make your tiny garden a living, breathing feature in your home or garden.
But, it does take a bit of planning as you’ll have to consider the following:
- how much space you have in your miniature garden
- how big the plants you choose will grow
- whether your garden will be inside or outside
- whether the container you choose has adequate drainage
- the mix of plants you have – it’s best to have a mixture of tall plants and ground level plants
- how the size and scale of your accessories will make the garden look – as long as your accessories are all the same size, you can create the illusion that the plants you use are either small trees or large shrubs.
Check out the video below for an excellent quick guide to scaling a miniature garden (note the cute birdhouse on a pole as well).
To find out more about planting a miniature garden with real trees and plants, I highly recommend taking a look at this article from the Empress of Dirt website. On this page you’ll find out the best plants for indoor and outdoor miniature gardening, how to pick them by scale and how to look after them.
If you prefer artificial plants and trees in your miniature garden then I’ve written an in depth post on this here – How To Make Miniature Model Bushes, Shrubs And Hedges. This post covers everything you need to know about buying or making your own miniature trees and bushes.
So there you have it, there are hundreds of different ways to accessorise a miniature garden to make it truly unique. Don’t forget to add small people too – and get them to do the gardening for you!
