How to Plant a Zen Garden

A zen garden is not a garden in the traditional Western way of thinking. A zen garden generally does not contain plants. If it does, the plants need to be meaningful to the individual and they need to be minimal in number. A zen garden should have a feeling of openness about it. A zen garden is about inner peace and tranquility. It is about Feng Shui and karma. It is about being at one with the universe.A zen garden can be any size and any shape. Depending on your needs and your resources, a zen garden can be as large as your entire yard, or it can be the size of a small notebook and sit serenely on your desk. A zen garden can even be built inside a flower pot.

Things You'll Need

• A container
• Sand
• Rake
• Peaceful objects that have meaning to you

Instructions

How to Make a Zen Garden

1. Decide on a location for your zen garden. This can be an outdoor location, or it can be a small area on a desk or cabinet.

2. Build a frame for your garden. It can be any shape that is pleasing to you and makes you feel good. If building outside, 4X4s or railroad ties make excellent border materials. If building a small zen garden, find 4 pieces of 1 inch high wood and glue together. You will need a bottom panel for your indoor garden.If making an outdoor zen garden, lay a black plastic weed barrier inside your garden.

3. Fill your garden to the top with pure white sand. If building an indoor garden, one bag of sand from a hobby store should be sufficient. If building an outdoor garden, purchase clean white sand at your local hardware or garden supply center. Sand in an outdoor garden needs to be a minimum of 2 inches deep (preferably deeper); for an indoor garden a minimum of 1 inch of sand is best for raking purposes.

4. Add a few soothing, calming objects to your garden. Objects may include old pieces of weathered wood or rocks with pleasing shapes and/or colors. Plants should be kept to a minimum since they cannot be nourished by the sand. Keep the flow of your garden open and natural and pleasing to you.

5. Rake sand in long curving patterns, like waves on the ocean. Rake only the top inch or so of sand in an outdoor garden. Go with the flow, as they say. Rake in patterns that feel good and right for you. Allow any negative energy you might be feeling to pass through the rake and into the sand. If you have a small indoor garden, purchase a small rake or even a back scratcher. Rake lightly in patterns that are pleasing to you.

6. Objects in your garden should have rounded edges with no sharp corners. The idea is for good karma (energy) to be able to flow through your garden in graceful arcs. Items can be removed from your garden or added to it as your feelings, ideas, moods, and needs change. This is your garden and the purpose of it is to make you feel happy and content.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to live your life in a way that creates no bad karma. Karma is a universal balance of good and evil. Filling your life with good karma will help to make your zen garden experience more meaningful. Visit local zen gardens to get ideas for your own garden.