14 replies to this topic

[fairynough]

Hi
I was just wondering if anyone knew what kind of plants would work well in a minature garden? I thought about Rosemary, thyme and viola's, any more ideas please?

[apple]

nastursian!! sorry excuse the spelling on that one potatos grow well in any container we grew some in a clear plastic sweet tub (just to see the roots and then the tiny pots come to life

[ASPK]

Rosemary grows into a big shrub!
Is it an outdoor tub? Any small bedding plants would do. Mint in a pot (to restrict growth) in your big tub would be nice and smelly. Marigolds always seem to grow well and ivy...

[fairynough]

Thanks for the ideas so far. What I am tring to do is create a miniature garden in a tub for small world play. The tub fits on a table and we will make a small pond, add paths using small stones, etc. I just wanted to be a bit more creative than adding daisies and twigs. We have lots of stuff growing in our outdoor area. I fancied bringing the outdoors in!

[Mimi]

Alpines are small miniature plants and easy to grow, when you choose your plant pick up any bits from other plants that have broken off and stick them in your pot this way you will get an extra plant as they root very easily.

[smilingteacher]

What a lovely idea! Think I might use this in my classroom. Would you put plastic people in the garden as well to develop language?

[Rea]

Cress might work well. Lettuce seeds, moss gathered from other places might work.

[HappyMaz]

smilingteacher, on Apr 1 2008, 13:20, said:

What a lovely idea! Think I might use this in my classroom. Would you put plastic people in the garden as well to develop language?

I love this idea - mini dinosaurs roaming through a pre-historic landscape; jungle explorerers out to discover new civilisations - the list of possibilities are endless...

Maz

[shazzam]

how about some spring onions,radishes and broad beans although you would have to check if radish and broad bean leaves are poisonous

[shazzam]

whoops!! i meant to say NOT poisonous!!

[nona]

I've used old tyres as planters - nice soft edges for leaning on for little arms to reach the middle! We had one with bedding plants, an alpine garden, a herb bed and ornamental grasses (easy to trim to size) We also had one filled only with sand and one with soil. Plastic jungle animals, dinosaurs, farm animals and play people all found their way out into the garden - thankfully they all cleaned up nicely in the dishwasher!

[emmajess]

You could lay a little turf in it and ferns would make a good dinosaur-friendly jungle!

We made a living island which was in a builder's tray with a big pile of newspaper in the middle and chicken wire over the top to hold it in place and then a layer of soil on top and we planted it up with grass, cress and beansprouts. It was great watching it grow really quickly with the children - there was lots of writing and drawing as they observed it while it was growing and then lots of small world play once the 'living island' was established.
We were planting flowers at the same time and somehow or other sunflower and nasturtium seeds got mixed in and it was a real surprise and quite exciting when we found flowers had grown in the island too!

[Harricroft]

If you plan using it with small world people, I wonder if Camomile would work. Covers like a lawn, daisy like flowers (I think) and I just love the smell.

Always dreamt of having a camomile lawn myself - old romantic!

[zazo]

Hi If its for indoors you could get plants for out doors in the little pots that are just starting to grow . When you have finished with them you could plant them outdoors . I like this idea i think we may have a go . Pat

[littlebarnowls]

grass seed, spider plants, money trees, cress, mustard, salad and basil are all great indoor growing plants, good luck !