Hi Friends,
Thought I would share my experience in building a miniature garden landscaping especially for those who have a paucity of garden space. I have always loved nature & plants. But living in a city had constricted my thinking about gardening especially when you don't have space around the house & live in a flat. I was procrastinating about doing this since the last 2 years but the lockdown this year gave me a push in materialising it finally.
The total cost for this came well within Rs.5,000/-. I used a glass wash basin(Rs. 2000) with a mesh trap of Rs. 35, soil & gravel Rs. 80, plants around Rs. 600/-, screw driver( for loosening soil) - Rs. 75/-, water spray container Rs. 65/-. There are FM's having far more experience than me like Hydrovac & some other's who can guide better & give more inputs in gardening. Any ideas for improvement are most welcome.
I wanted a ceramic rectangular container but couldn't find a proper size on Amazon . So scouted the ceramic shops & some were exorbitant in price. Thought of getting one made with glass or Acrylic(didn't want a fish tank) but it should also take the weight of mud & stones which gets quite heavy when done. Finally got a glass basin of approximately 14 inches X 12 inches in size with a pretty colour & pebbles pattern. Got gloves, tweezer( for removing unwanted soil lumps & leaves from difficult areas ) & a metal paint scraper.
First I added a circular mesh trap which fitted perfectly blocking the basin hole & allowing water to drain out. Then added small gravel stones & coir on top of the gravel to prevent soil loss when watering. The last layer on top was supposed to be red soil mixed with manure. First prepared basic landscaping with the stones I could find in my society & made a small cave with stones around it to hold other plants. There are excellent videos on youtube for miniature stone landscaping but I wanted to go simple since this was my first project. Next I decided the spots where the plants would be planted which I had bought in advance. Since you dont want fast growing plants or plants that grow big, it is better to look out for small plants. Adding plants with small colourful leaves would give a break in the greens. Luckily I found some small violet flowering plants growing wild in our society & lost no opportunity in using them.
After planting the plants, taking advantage of the monsoon season , I scraped the moss from the society compound wall using the paint scrapper. I could get 2 varieties of moss. Once the moss is slightly moist, scrapping it off the surface becomes an easy task. I took some tree bark from the rain tree from the society compound & placed the moss on it with a little mud which helps in preserving moisture.
A lot of things come for free if we really look around. So basically in 2 days, you can have this miniature landscaping ready with a little planning. One day for buying the stuff & plants. The next day within 3 hours you can have it ready. I have ordered miniature houses & toy mushrooms from Amazon to just add for decoration to spruce it up if there is space for them but the delivery may take some time.
My biggest challenge is to keep the moss alive since the rains have stopped & I have to spray them around 4 times a day considering the heat in Mumbai as the rains have receded. Watering can be done 3 to 4 times a week but with the right quantity & not too much. So far 2 days have passed & I am keeping my fingers crossed about the moss. Direct sunlight should be avoided & the bowl can be kept in the balcony or near the window.
As an alternative option, one can go for succulent plants since many of them are small, grow slowly & require less water. But my personal choice was for going for ferns & moss which mimic a forest.
Thought I would share my experience in building a miniature garden landscaping especially for those who have a paucity of garden space. I have always loved nature & plants. But living in a city had constricted my thinking about gardening especially when you don't have space around the house & live in a flat. I was procrastinating about doing this since the last 2 years but the lockdown this year gave me a push in materialising it finally.
The total cost for this came well within Rs.5,000/-. I used a glass wash basin(Rs. 2000) with a mesh trap of Rs. 35, soil & gravel Rs. 80, plants around Rs. 600/-, screw driver( for loosening soil) - Rs. 75/-, water spray container Rs. 65/-. There are FM's having far more experience than me like Hydrovac & some other's who can guide better & give more inputs in gardening. Any ideas for improvement are most welcome.
I wanted a ceramic rectangular container but couldn't find a proper size on Amazon . So scouted the ceramic shops & some were exorbitant in price. Thought of getting one made with glass or Acrylic(didn't want a fish tank) but it should also take the weight of mud & stones which gets quite heavy when done. Finally got a glass basin of approximately 14 inches X 12 inches in size with a pretty colour & pebbles pattern. Got gloves, tweezer( for removing unwanted soil lumps & leaves from difficult areas ) & a metal paint scraper.
First I added a circular mesh trap which fitted perfectly blocking the basin hole & allowing water to drain out. Then added small gravel stones & coir on top of the gravel to prevent soil loss when watering. The last layer on top was supposed to be red soil mixed with manure. First prepared basic landscaping with the stones I could find in my society & made a small cave with stones around it to hold other plants. There are excellent videos on youtube for miniature stone landscaping but I wanted to go simple since this was my first project. Next I decided the spots where the plants would be planted which I had bought in advance. Since you dont want fast growing plants or plants that grow big, it is better to look out for small plants. Adding plants with small colourful leaves would give a break in the greens. Luckily I found some small violet flowering plants growing wild in our society & lost no opportunity in using them.
After planting the plants, taking advantage of the monsoon season , I scraped the moss from the society compound wall using the paint scrapper. I could get 2 varieties of moss. Once the moss is slightly moist, scrapping it off the surface becomes an easy task. I took some tree bark from the rain tree from the society compound & placed the moss on it with a little mud which helps in preserving moisture.
A lot of things come for free if we really look around. So basically in 2 days, you can have this miniature landscaping ready with a little planning. One day for buying the stuff & plants. The next day within 3 hours you can have it ready. I have ordered miniature houses & toy mushrooms from Amazon to just add for decoration to spruce it up if there is space for them but the delivery may take some time.
My biggest challenge is to keep the moss alive since the rains have stopped & I have to spray them around 4 times a day considering the heat in Mumbai as the rains have receded. Watering can be done 3 to 4 times a week but with the right quantity & not too much. So far 2 days have passed & I am keeping my fingers crossed about the moss. Direct sunlight should be avoided & the bowl can be kept in the balcony or near the window.
As an alternative option, one can go for succulent plants since many of them are small, grow slowly & require less water. But my personal choice was for going for ferns & moss which mimic a forest.
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