How to Plant Window Boxes

Window boxes filled with trailing vines and bright flowers can add an elegant touch to the your home. They are easy to maintain and add instant curb appeal to your home. Follow these steps to construct and plant your window box.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Soil-less mix or lightweight potting soil.
• Plants
• Coconut or moss liner for wired baskets
• Coffee liner, pine cones or rocks
• Trowel
• Mulch

Preparing the Window Box

1. Purchase plants from your local gardening store or nursery. For every foot of window box, you can fill in with two or three plants.

2. Cover the holes with a coffee filter, pine cones or rocks for metal, wood, or terra cotta boxes with drainage holes. This allows water to drain from the box and prevents rot.

3. Line the window box with a coconut liner or moss if you are using a wire basket box.

Planting the Window Box

4. Fill the window box 3/4 full with a light-weight, soil-less mix. Soil-less mix contains peat, perlite and vermiculite.

5. Arrange your plants in the window box. A good mix of plantings includes trailing vines with upright plants. Experiment with color. Purple looks good with yellow. Red looks good with white. Use colors that compliment the house. Step back to see how the plants look in the box.

6. Fill the rest of the window box with potting soil, and level it around the plants. Be sure to pat down the soil around the plants to anchor them in place.

7. Add a layer of mulch around the plants.

8. Water the plants in the window box at least once a day. Boxes placed on the south side of the house may need to be watered twice a day.

9. Add a liquid fertilizer once a week. Liquid fertilizers, such as Miracle-Grow or TerraCycle Plant Food can be purchased at your local garden store or online. Or if you prefer, you can purchase slow-release fertilizer added to the soil when you insert the plants.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose a combination of trailing vines and upright plants in complimentary colors for eye appeal.
• Do not use top soil in window boxes. Top soil tends to retain water and clump. It provides too much added weight to the box.