What could be more beautiful than seeing flowers blowing right outside your window? By mounting window boxes on the facade of your house, you can enjoy the beauty of this suspended garden both indoors and out. Just follow these simple steps to decorate your home with blooming window boxes.
Creating your window boxes
You’ll find beautiful wooden window boxes at the garden center of your home improvement store. There’s no need to spend additional money on buying plastic window box liners for your wooden ones. Instead, line the window boxes with black trash can bags, which you can staple in place. Just be sure to make holes through the bags at the bottom of your window boxes. (See pictures of the author’s window boxes).
Hanging your window boxes
You can probably hang your window boxes by standing in your home and reaching out the window. However, it is easier to take a tall ladder and climb up to the exterior side of the window. Just have someone there to hold your ladder. Use three to four strong L-shaped metal mounts, two on the side and one or two at the center, and be sure to connect the empty window boxes to the mounts.
Choosing plants for your window boxes
It’s tempting to over-plant your window box, but remember that the actual soil space in the box is narrow and minimal. Therefore, plant three to four small plants and no more. This will leave room for the roots of the plants to spread throughout the box, which will allow the plants themselves to expand beautifully. Be careful to choose plants by the degree of sunlight your window boxes will be exposed to.
Planting your window boxes
Choose rich potting soil for your window boxes. Stand inside your home by the window, and plant your window box without risk of climbing up on a ladder. Begin by planting a plant on either side of the box, then add one or two at the center depending on the length of your window box. If, at first, the planted box seems bare (until the plants begin to grow), consider sticking a few silk flowers in the soil.
Shading your window boxes
If your house gets a lot of sunlight in the day, consider building a decorative sun-shade for your window boxes (even if your plants are meant to be planted in full sunlight). This is important because the soil in your window box can dry much faster than in your garden. All your need is a strip of wood on the top and two wood dowels on either side to create your sun-shade. Then stick the dowels in the soil of your window box.
Water your window box
Water your window box at least two times a week. It’s better to water more than less, and let excess water trickle out through the drainage holes. In summer, you can even place ice cubes in your window boxes to allow the water to melt slowly into the soil and drench it thoroughly.
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