Miniature Gardening Fundamentals
Miniature garden are referred to as small garden. The concept of miniature garden was brought by Japanese. They do not have large and sufficient space for gardening thus they introduced concept of miniature garden.
Mini crops
Any very small seed can be grown as crop in miniature garden. These seeds include Arugula, Flax and Chia.
Materials used for miniature garden
Materials required for miniature garden are simple and cheap. They include wide-mouth glass container or a tray, plastic cover to cover the jar top plastic wrap or tray, a pane of glass or wooden spoon, potting soil, small plants or micro plants, pea gravel and for watering purpose a spray bottle. Use top-quality, sterile potting soil and to avoid insect and other diseases wash the container or the tray with hot water. For choosing the container fishbowl or aquarium are the good choice as they have wide mouth.
Steps for making miniature garden
Seed preparation
All the seed do not require seed preparation but small seed need to be examined properly before poured in to the soil.
Water soaking
Supply adequate amount of water to the seedling. Seeds require huge amount of water at this stage for growing up. Mix the water with the hand properly so that every seed gets water for its growth. For mixing water even wooden spoon is recommended. Do not full the area with supplying excess of water.
Rinsing and draining
Rinsing involves the process of providing moisture to the seeds for germination. Draining is the process of removing of excess moisture from the seeds. For miniature garden there is no process of rising but miniature garden requires watering so that each felt pad get moist and seeds grow properly. Miniature garden comprises of small plants thus there is need of watering the pads from the side edge of tray.
Sprouting
The green micro plants grow at room temperature without any direct sunlight it is called sprouting.
Plants selection for miniature garden
For miniature garden select the plants which have same growing needs like water they need to grow, the type of soil and light they need for proper development of garden. Place tall plants at the back side and slow growing plants like moss in front of garden. Other plants for miniature garden include Moss and lichens, Miniature orchids, Baby tears, Begonias, Miniature ferns ,Hepaticas Spider plants, Wintergreens, Gloxinias, Small palms ,African violets, Coleuses.
Miniature garden can add to decor of your room or your backyard.