Build a Pebble Patio for Your Miniature Garden

Using only a few simple tools, you can create a miniature garden complete with this cute pebble patio.

By Janit Calvo

Award-winning miniature gardening expert, Janit Calvo, shows you how to craft your own beautiful tiny gardens with lush plantings, stylish accessories, functioning water features and perfect pathways. Use Gardening in Miniature (Timber Press, 2013) to help choose the best plant varieties and secrets of scale. In this excerpt you will see how a simple pebble patio can bring a miniature garden to life.

You can purchase this book from the Mother Earth Living store: Gardening in Miniature.

Pebble Patio in the Garden Bed

Pebbles can add beautiful texture and color to miniature gardens, whether they are the sole material in a small patio, or define a path through the middle of a garden bed. A pebble patio is also simpler and quicker to create than a permanent one—something many enthusiasts appreciate. There are countless types and colors of pebbles, so don’t be afraid to experiment and take full advantage of your range of options.

Materials Border edging, 2 feet Wood skewers, 4 Small pebbles, about 2 pounds Landscape cloth, about 12 inches by 12 inches Tools and Supplies Gloves (optional) Trowel Scissors Kneeling pad Miniature garden furniture
1. In the area where you want to build your patio, clear debris and carve out the soil about 1 inch deep.
2. Line the perimeter of the carved area with border edging, using skewers to hold it in place. The border edging will corral the pebbles so they don’t get scattered about in the garden bed. Work from one side to the other, making sure the border is level. Cut off any extra material. Add or remove soil so the area is 1 inch deep and level. Fill in the back side of the border—the garden bed side—with soil, bringing it just below the top edge of the border.
3. Place the landscape cloth over the patio area, lining up one of the sides with the edge of the cloth. Hold it in place while you cut around the edge of the patio area, using the border as a guide for the scissors. (You won’t be able to see the border, but you can feel it with the lower blade of the scissors.) Landscape cloth under the stones keeps them clean, so your miniature patio will look like new for years. When it’s time for a change, the clean stones can be easily recovered and reused. Instead of landscape cloth, you can use mesh screen or burlap—both make ideal barriers while letting water through.
4. Pour pebbles gently into the prepared area. Smooth these into the corners and pat them down so they are level. A depth of 1 inch is ideal for pebble patios.
5. Place your accessories. (Then brag about installing a garden patio in less than an hour.)
Create a charming outdoor room.

This excerpt was taken from Gardening in Miniature: Create Your Own Tiny Living World © Copyright 2013 by Janit Calvo, with photographs by Kate Baldwin. Published by Timber Press. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Buy this book from our store: Gardening in Miniature.