Window Boxes: An Appealing Small Space Garden

A window box is one of the best ways to refresh your home's exterior by instantly adding a vivid color to your home. It is also easy to care for and affordable. Putting in miniature items along with various aroma filled flowers and decorative plants in a window box enhances its look and renders an exquisite space to your home.

Getting started with window box garden

Window box gardening is a convenient way to start a small garden from your window without digging, tilling and pulling weeds from your backyard. Choosing the right windowsill for your box to fit on is the first basic thing to be considered. The box can also be mounted the siding by using brackets. Depending on the season, different plants and techniques are recommended to best optimize your garden.

The checklist

• Choosing the right location: Choose an ideal location for the window box. Either a sunny spot or a shady region goes well (based on the plants you choose) with the box being wide enough for it to sit safely on the windowsill.
• Selecting from different styles and materials: Boxes made up of plastic, metal, wood or vinyl can be used for your window box, but ensure that they have adequate drainage holes in the bottom of the container.
• Pay attention to size: As plants need room to grow efficiently and soil that doesn't dry out fast, boxes should be wide to provide space for top growth and have appropriate depth for the roots to spread well.
• Also, purchasing small sized pots enable you to have large space for more pots in the window box.
• Choosing the right plants: Choosing the location and a container is a good start for window box gardening. But, picking the right plants makes the difference in your growing success.
• Succulents, small flowering plants which doesn't overgrow your window's limitation and which survive in particular weather conditions have to be selected accordingly.
• Check for weather conditions: As long as right plants are used, both sunny and shady conditions are relevant for the garden to grow.
• For example, for sunny locations, plant such as English Ivy (Duck Foot), a hanging garden which grows well in full sun can be chosen.
• Plants which grow well in shady regions include thrillers, fillers and spillers such as:
• Polka Dot Plant Hypoestes phyllostachya, a delicate tropical foliage plant with tubular pink or blue flowers.
• Begonia bowerae, known for its foliage interest and brightly colored flowers.
• Miniature garden decorations such as tiles, rocks, marbles, furniture, mini houses, fairies etc., add up beauty to your window box.

Planting and maintaining window box garden

• The three planting options for window box gardening are:
• To plant directly in the container.
• To drop the potted plants in the box and fill them around with bark, moss or lightweight material.
• To plant in a plastic or metal liner that fits inside the box.
• In order to ensure that no potting soil escapes and for efficient draining of water, the drainage holes can be lined with a layer of broken terracotta or polystyrene packaging.
• Pluck out the excessive weeds since they rob away the plant’s moisture/ nutrients and encourages diseases and insects in your garden.
• A high quality potting soil is better for your plants to grow efficiently.
• Monitoring plant infestations from your window box will be easier and allows you to quickly remove the infested plants.
• Rainfall usually leaches out the soil nutrients hence feeding with a liquid fertilizer provide vital nutrition to plants.
• A good routine care with regular watering, grooming to remove faded leaves have to be implemented.
• Once every last detail has been cared for, all that's left to do is to move the fairies in.

A window box garden is a fun way to simplify gardening on a level that is manageable and convenient.