A key element in my book “Candy Cottage” is the magical garden that provides an endless supply of candy for the Gingerbread Man. If you want to make one of these delightful miniature gardens to go with your Gingerbread House, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create an enchanting garden of your own.

• Buy some miniature plastic plants that are about 1 to 2 inches tall. In my bag from Amazon, most plant ‘varieties’ were well suited for this purpose.
• Save and dry out a plateful of used coffee grounds to use as the soil.
• Find a stiff and fairly large piece of packing foam, at least 1 ½” thick. It needs to be stiff enough to carry around without bending. If you have ordered large electronics, you might have one laying around.
• Buy some mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, and any other small candy you can find. The best place to look for tiny candy is in the cake decorating section of your store. 
• I also used fake candy that came in miniature glass bottles from Amazon. I already had these for my “Sweet Shop” scene.
• In my pre-test, I saw that the white foam showed through after attaching the coffee grounds. So I suggest you paint the designated garden area brown to address this issue.
• If you want a grassy look, glue that on next around the garden. I used grass rolls that I found online.
• After it dries, paint a thick coat of clear Elmer’s Glue on the painted garden area and sprinkle on the coffee grounds. Press down.
• While that is drying, prepare the plants. Using clear glue, attach the candies to the plants. Insert them into a foam piece to dry upright. I was able to spear the marshmallows without glue.
• Once everything is dry, insert the plants into the garden in rows. 
• I decided I needed a fence for my garden, but that is your choice. I thought that a candy cane fence would be appropriate to the theme. The candy canes I used were plastic 3D prints.
• After inserting the candy canes around the garden edges, I used a thick brown thread to simulate rope. If you’re crafty you can no doubt improve on it, and maybe add a nice garden gate.