Miniature Garden in Nutshell

Unique miniature garden, featuring your petite plants

displayed in half of a walnut shell.

Stand is made of foam.

To create the stand you'll need:

• 6"x4" foam rectangle (I cut my rectangle from a longer foam ~ note: use the harder foam for easier cutting)
• 2" diameter cylinder that you'll be cutting shorter cylinders from
• your favorite color spray paint (I used gold webbing spray paint)
• glue gun
• knife, chef's and serrated

1. If your foam rectangle is not 6"x4", cut one from a larger piece.
2. Mark your 2" foam cylinder, so you end up with three 2" pieces and two 1" pieces.
3. Using a serrated knife, slowly saw through the cylinder rotating to make sure you cut evenly.
4. After you have cut your 5 pieces, make a small dimple at the end of each cylinder (this is where the walnut shell will be resting. You can use your nail to scrape a bit of the foam; no need to make it too deep.
5. At this point, you should have a rectangle piece with 5 cylinders (3 tall, 2 short).
6. Using the glue gun, glue the cylinders to the rectangle ~ tall in the back, short in the front.
7. Spray paint the foam and allow to dry.

One way to split the walnut shell is by placing a chef's knife on the side of the walnut where you see a hairline crack along the seam and then using a hammer gently tap to start splitting the shell.

You will end up with some shells that will crack unevenly, but out of 12 walnuts you should be able to get 5 nice halves.

Clean out the walnut meat and scrape out any large membranes (you can also use sandpaper).

You can spray the inside of the shell with a lacquer to make it waterproof, though I did not.

Using your favorite miniature plants, plant each one into a walnut half.

Because the shell is small, you will have to water more frequently; you can also spray the leaves with a spray water bottle. Some plants you can nip the center of to keep short and bushy, others may need transplanting if they grow too big.

I bought some decorative moss and added to the corners of the display stand to dress it up.

Great to display in a window sill.

Enjoy your miniature garden.