Planting & Watering Recommendations for Window Boxes

The Box

• Gardening centers carry a variety of window boxes that you can use as is or paint to your taste. You can usually choose from metal, plastic, wood, concrete and terra cotta. The length should be as wide as the window or within a couple of inches longer or shorter than the window opening, not significantly larger or smaller. Make sure you can anchor the box to the window ledge or building.

Planting Styles

• There are three ways to plant a window box. You can set potted plants into the box and fill in the space around the pots with gravel, moss or another decorative material. You can fill a plastic window box liner with potting soil and add plants directly into the soil, or you can plant directly into the box itself. When you use the first method, you can add or take away plants easily. The second method allows you to easily change the entire box design. The third method is best for planting perennials and requires the best growing conditions.

Design

• Design the box before you plant. Draw the plan on paper if you need to. Make the window box look good from outside the house and inside by mixing plants of varying heights, texture, color and foliage size and patterns. You can choose some vining plants to spill over the sides of the box. You can select plants to carry out a color scheme, like mixing different shades of pink, or making a red, white and blue box for Independence Day. You might design a box that is all flowering herbs or succulents. Look at gardening books to see examples of box designs.

Planting

• However you choose to plant the box, make sure it has drainage holes in it and put gravel in the bottom to a depth of 2 to 3 inches for drainage. When adding potted plants, make sure they are not pot-bound. Set them on top of the gravel and disguise the pots with the decorative filling. When planting a liner or the box directly, set the liner filled with potting soil or the potting soil itself directly on top the gravel in the window box. Remove plants from pots and arrange them in the soil according to your design plan.

Water

• You will have to be dedicated to watering the boxes if you want them to thrive. In very hot weather you may need to water daily. Stick your finger beneath the plants to see if the root area is dry. Soak the soil, but don't make it into mud. Window boxes that get a lot of sun will need to be watered more frequently than those in shadier spots. Water the window boxes early in the morning or near sundown, but not in the heat of the day. Water near the stems of the plants but not on the stems. Mist with a mister lightly.