Window Boxes

Flower filled boxes can add beauty to a home with an otherwise simple exterior.

Window boxes are a delightful accent to the exterior of a home.

Install a Window box on your windows and then plant abundantly with eye-catching ivy, geraniums, pansies and petunias. Window boxes are simple but can be dramatic if you plant a display that contrasts with your homes background.

Window boxes allow you to bring colour and beauty to any window and they with planters, are much more versatile than their names would suggest allowing you to transform any uninviting or dull area, decking, flat walls or fences.

Window boxes should extend the full length of your window for the best affect.

Gardening in Planters

A lightweight potting mix is needed for container gardening. Soil less planting mixes provide excellent drainage, aeration and water-holding capacity that ordinary garden soil can not supply.

Make sure that your planter or window box has drainage holes and in the case of timber planters it is always better to have a waterproof liner with the bottom pierced to allow for drainage. Drainage is essential so that the planting medium does not become water-logged.

Choose small, healthy young plants because they adapt much quicker to new conditions than older plants.

Plant closer in window boxes and planters than you would in a normal flower bed including plants with a variety of colours, textures and shapes. Plant the trailing plants at the outer edges of the window box or planter and the bushier or taller plants in the middle or towards the rear.

PLANTS FOR Planters

Use your imagination in selecting plants. Many types of plants will grow in planters including annuals, vines, tropical plants, herbs and even some vegetables. For hanging salads, grow leaf lettuce, parsley and miniature tomatoes. Herbs thrive in planters and require little care. Thyme, oregano and rosemary are good for planters because they like the soil to dry out between watering. Many plants normally grown as houseplants will be great for foliage in outdoor planters as well.

CARING FOR Planters

Planters can dry out very quickly. Daily or even twice-daily watering may be necessary, (unless you have a watering system in place and these do not have to be complicated they can be as simple as an inverted bottle that is inserted into the growing medium which you fill with water everyday or so). Feel the soil to determine whether or not it is damp. If the potting mix feels dry 25 mm (1 inch) below the surface, it is time to water. Apply water until water runs from the drainage holes. Containers will need frequent checking as the plants grow or the temperatures become warmer.

Frequent watering flushes nutrients from the soil quickly, so frequent feeding is necessary. Liquid feeds or timed-release fertilizers are the easiest methods of application. Time-release fertilizer pellets can be mixed into the soil at planting or worked into the top inch later. The soil in the container should be moist when fertilizer is applied, even liquid fertilizer. Feed planters and window boxes every two weeks from spring through summer with a complete liquid fertilizer diluted to half-strength.

Remove flowers as they fade to keep flowering baskets blooming well. Many can be rejuvenated by a trim in late summer.

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