As soon as January rolls around, I realize that March is not far away. In our temperate rainforest climate, March is the time when people really begin to think about getting out into the garden. We’re not planting much yet, but we’re making big plans.
One of my goals for my small garden space is to make it a magical play space for my daughter. The other goal is to make it an outstanding organic vegetable garden. In past years, I have done modestly well at both, and I am aiming to improve over the next few years.
How can you make your garden an enchanting place for your child to play, even if you have very little space?
Use what is already there. We have a lovely Japanese maple tree that makes beautiful red leaves in the fall. Despite the fact that it makes shade for our vegetable garden, we’ve kept it. I’ve adored it with “magic” fairy balls to attract the fairies to our garden. We’ve made a little home for elves and fairies at the base of the tree, adored with a floor of seashells that we’ve kept over the years.
I also work to attract birds to the garden, because birds are amazing and thrilling for children to watch. In the winter, we feed the birds to attract them. In the summer, we plant columbines and other plants to attract butterflies. Our lungwort plants are delicious to hummingbirds and attract many of them to the garden.
Beside the door to our garden, we have a little door. It’s an elf door that was handcrafted by a woodworker. For those of you who are familiar with The Hobbit, it looks like a hobbit door. I suspect that the magical creatures in our garden make their way in and out of our home through this door. Sometimes they leave gifts for my preschooler, too.
My daughter also has a small play area that she has planted. Next to her play area is a large planter that is full of miniature plants and weatherproof dollhouse furniture. It’s a fairy garden. Sometimes the fairies come to play and spill tea out of the teacups. Other times, they might climb into the fairy bells for a nap.
Do you have magical spots in your garden?