Window Box Gardening Tips And Techniques

By Mary Hanna

In this country, window box gardening offers apartment dwellers
the enjoyment of container gardening from within or without. If
you live in just one room or on a very small property, you, too,
can have a window box garden filled in spring with pansies and
primroses, in summer with petunias or fuchsias, and in fall with
chrysanthemums. In winter, greens and berries, like bittersweet
or California pepper berries with pine, give color. English Ivy
will provide trailing green all winter if kept out of the wind.

For the best results in a window box gardens, the box ought to
be at least three to four feet long but not more than six feet.
If larger, it is way too heavy to suspend and secure properly,
and it cannot be lifted easily, even by two people. Boxes
resting on broad window ledges and on firm porch railings might
be eight feet long, but hardly more since moving them becomes
too hazardous. Keep to a minimum depth of eight to nine inches,
with a width of ten to twelve inches across the top. Of course,
lengths must vary according to the window, or series of windows
or railing to be decorated with window box gardening.

The most common material for window box gardens is wood.
California redwood becomes a neutral gray if not painted, and
cypress will last for years. Cedar is recommended, as is a good
grade of white pine. Other materials include metals, which are
attractive and, for the most part, light in weight. However,
they have the disadvantage of conducting heat, thus overheating
the soil in your window box garden. Other suitable and durable
lightweight materials are plastic, fiberglass, spun glass, and
Gardenglas.

If you are handy with tools, you can make your own window boxes
of wood, following instructions in pamphlets from your nursery
or garden center. Whatever plan you follow, get boards one to
one and a quarter inches thick. (Thinner boards will warp and
offer little insulation against summer heat.) To fasten, rely on
brass screws rather than nails, which in a few years may push
out and cause a box to fall apart. To make corners secure,
reinforce with angle irons. Be sure to provide enough drainage
holes in the bottom for water to pass through freely. Space
half-inch holes six to eight inches apart when building your
window box gardens.

When boxes are completed, treat the insides with a preservative
to prevent rotting. Cuprinol or some other non-toxic material is
excellent, but avoid creosote which is poisonous to plants.
After the preservative has dried, apply at least two coats of
good paint or stain.

Select a color which will not detract from the plants.
Traditional dark green is satisfactory, though commonplace,
unless you use a tint like apple green. Have in mind the colors
of the flowers, especially of plants that trail over the sides.
Dark flowers do not show up against dark paint. The same is true
of white flowers against light surfaces, as white petunias
against white or pale yellow boxes.

To hold window box gardens securely, use bolts or lag screws
and treat them beforehand to prevent rusting. Leave an inch or
so of space between the window box garden and house for the
movement of air. If the box garden is to rest on a terrace or
other solid surface, raise them on cleats or set up on bricks or
blocks of wood so drainage holes won't become clogged. Some
space under boxes is also important for air circulation, which
will dry up run-off water.

When you plant a window box garden, put an inch layer of broken
flower pots, crushed brick, small stones or pebbles over the
bottom to enable water to escape freely through the openings.
Above this, spread a piece of wet burlap or a layer of moist
sphagnum moss, old leaves, hard coal clinkers or cinders to
prevent soil from washing into the drainage area.

All plants in window box gardening need rich soil for luxuriant
growth. Space larger kinds—geraniums, coleus, and fuchsias-eight
to ten inches apart; smaller kinds—lobelias, annual phlox, wax
begonias, sweet alyssum, and browallia—six inches apart. An
eight-inch-wide box accommodates two rows of plants, with the
tall ones in back and the low ones along the front. Boxes, ten
inches wide, take three rows of plants, tall, medium, and low
for edging.

After planting, spread an inch mulch of peat moss or other
mulch over the soil to delay drying out and keep weeds in check.
In a month, give a liquid fertilizer and follow up with feedings
every seven to ten days. Foliage fertilizers can also be
applied, but only as a supplement to root feeding.

The choice of plants for window box gardens is limited only by
size. Plants over a foot high do not look well unless boxes are
exceptionally large. Otherwise, you can grow almost anything you
want. For early spring, you might start with Dutch flower bulbs.
In cold regions, these can be purchased already grown, or you
can raise your own.

Try hyacinths with pansies or early tulips or daffodils
interplanted with grape hyacinths, or basket-of-gold and arabis
with scillas, chionodoxas, or leucojum. Include some English
daisies and sweet-smelling wall flowers, so common in window box
gardening in Western Europe. Violas, blue phlox, aubretia, and
forget-me-nots are other possibilities.

The favorite plant in window box gardening is the geranium—red
or pink for white, cream, or light or dark blue boxes; white for
brown, blue, or red boxes. The familiar trailing variegated
vinca is excellent with them. Thriving in sun or shade, the
vinca needs constant pinching to prevent it from becoming too
long. English and German ivies are other trailers for sun or
shade. In the sun, low annuals, dwarf marigolds, lobelias and
verbenas make nice edgings as does sweet alyssum, in white,
purple or lavender. Petunias vie with geraniums in popularity,
and any kind can be planted, though the balcony types have the
advantage of trailing gracefully over the sides of the window
box garden.

In shade that is open to the sky, as on the north side of a
house, coleus grows superbly, with white-and-green kinds a
handsome contrast for those with red-and-pink leaves. Coleus
luxuriates in a rich soil and requires plenty of moisture. Pinch
to keep bushy, and to improve appearance remove the spiked blue
flowers, unless you especially like them. The Trailing Queen
coleus is one of the best.

Other shade-tolerant trailing plants include English ivy and
its varieties, creeping jenny, Kenilworth ivy, creeping fig,
German ivy, variegated gill-over-the-ground, myrtle, wandering
Jew, zebrina, achimenes, chlorophytum, star of Bethlehem or
Italian bellflower, and strawberry begonia.

These are just a few hints on planting your window box gardens.
Be creative with colors and texture. Window box gardening, so
much like container gardening, will become your next favorite
hobby.

Happy Window Box Gardening!

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in
your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice,
links and the resource box are unchanged.

About the Author: Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives
in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and
outside year round. She has published other articles on
Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at
http://www.GardeningHerb.com
http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com and
http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com

Source: http://www.isnare.com