Ruadhán Jones
With summer here and little prospect of overseas travel, there are simple ways to bring a bit of colour to your home, writes Ruadhán Jones
What are window ledges for if not to beautify with a lovely flower arrangement? Or perhaps you’re more of a practical type and would like some herbs! Whatever you fancy, window boxes are a versatile and attractive way to add some flair to your home exterior.
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or someone just starting out, window boxes are a great way to get into gardening. If you’re looking for an outdoor activity to do with children, then they’re something to consider. That’s because they’re simple to design and they don’t require complex materials or tools.
Much of what you will need can be purchased at your local hardware or home improvement store. Often, it will come cut to size – if not, most shops will be able to cut them on-site. All you need is to know your measurements and you’re on your way. Once you’re set on the design, it’s time to decide how to fill them.
To say the options are wide ranging is an understatement. So, whether indoor or outdoor, wood, metal or stone, standing on a ledge or doing its own thing, here are some simple tips for getting into window boxes.
Making your own box
Much of the time, the window boxes you will see are shop-bought and quite simple designs, with a focus more on the contents. However, there’s much more that can be done if you have the time and the interest.
The basic materials you’ll need before starting out are wood glue, hammer and nails, and/or a drill and screws. If you feel like a little extra labour, a saw could come in handy and a box of paint as well.
Plastic window box liners can also be useful to hold the flowers themselves – most are lightweight, with drainage holes already in the base and sit into your window box without being visible. It saves on the wood you will have to buy, so that the bottom only needs be a couple of wooden slats. You should be able to find them in a local hardware store, or else online.
The next thing to consider is where it’s going? Is it sitting on a ledge, perhaps you want a hanging basket, or will it stand on its own? If you’re just beginning, then going for the ledge is probably best as it allows you to be versatile in its style, but not overcomplicated in its creation.
Different designs
The classic design is the white window box with a stylish trim moulding. It can be put together in about 30 minutes using pine boards and trim, the size depending on your windowsill. Painting the window box is a great time to get your children involved as it’s safe and fun.
If you want to turn them into an indoor window box, then there are a couple of extra steps. While you need your box to drain, if it’s indoors, you’ll want the box to hold water! A couple of decent bin bags to insulate the interior. But what can you do to ensure your soil doesn’t become soggy? A nifty trick is to place a layer of dried pinecones – the kind hanging around at Christmas – to provide drainage while keeping the weight down.
The wood needs to be waterproof, so paint or a coat of varnish will help a lot; ensure it can drain”
Of course, if you don’t want to design and make your own, there are plenty of options for either shop bought or recycled window boxes. One idea is to use old dresser drawers to create a quirky, genteel impression. Using them in their entirety is risky, as they aren’t designed for the outdoor world – but, if you take the front, paint it to waterproof and add a base, it becomes the perfect front for a plastic window box.
A couple of things to remember when you’re designing your box are: the wood needs to be waterproof, so paint or a coat of varnish will help a lot; ensure it can drain, so that you don’t get soggy soil; and too deep is better than too shallow.
What to plant
Good quality soil is the first thing that goes in, regardless of what you’re growing. Window boxes are small spaces, quite confined for root growth, so soil quality is essential. If you’re using fertiliser, organic is the best way to go, especially if you’re growing food – you don’t want unknown chemicals mixed in.
But now, to the business end: what do you want to grow? While there are limitations on the size of plants, ultimately what you choose will be a matter of taste. Let’s deal with one of the choices for those of a practical bent: the herb pot.
The handy thing about using a window box for herbs is that it can be placed on a kitchen windowsill. They provide fresh, home grown options for adding flavour to a dish, although they require more attention than some.
Some of the most popular options are:
– Chives – perfect in a potato salad, chives are fast growers and will fill out a box nicely with their long, narrow structure.
– Parsley – with a wide variety of parsleys, this is quite a versatile herb. With its long, thin stems, it has a tendency to droop and provides an aesthetic overhang.
– Basil – flavoursome and fragrant, basil is a fast grower, but it needs a lot of water. Placing it in a corner on its own is best.
– Coriander – a useful addition to any herb garden, coriander grows comfortably with either frequent watering or drought conditions. If you have different herbs with different requirements, coriander provides a good buffer between them.
An aesthete’s approach
If you’re not into the idea of a herb garden and prefer window boxes for their aesthetic appeal, then perhaps flowers are more your thing. Fortunately, you have plenty of options, depending on your interest.
If you want instant height and structure, a boxwood shrub might be the thing for you. A lush, evergreen shrub, these shallow-rooted plants grow quickly and can provide a focal point around which to organise your flowers.
Geraniums are another colourful plant and they provide a slightly different shape with large, soft leaves”
Another option for a different view is a plant like trailing ivy, which, as the name suggests, will dangle gently over the edge of your window box. If you have created a fancy front for your box, you might not want to obscure it. But this gentle, leafy plant is a pleasant addition on a high sill.
For colour, there are many plants to suit your window box, but there are a few ‘commoners’. Petunias, pansies and poppies are small, but vibrant flowers which provide good pep to any box. Geraniums are another colourful plant and they provide a slightly different shape with large, soft leaves. And lastly, cornflowers are unfairly neglected, their colourful leaves providing a slender, streamlined option.
How to mind it
Once your window box is set up and you have planted all your herbs or flowers, how much care you take of it will depend at least in part on what you have planted. It’s important that it gets plenty of sunlight, ideally six hours, so choosing where to put them needs a little forward planning.
Some flowers require regular watering, others are more drought resistant. Either way, regular watering will be an important part of tending your box. Once planted, the box shouldn’t need too much repotting, but an occasional dose of fertiliser won’t do any harm. At the start, mixing some slow release, organic pellets will provide a good base.
The final thing to watch out for is if your roots are beginning to show through the bottom. That’s a sign that your plant needs a new pot, or perhaps it’s time to plant it in the garden, otherwise it will become root bound.
After that, it’s a case of keeping an eye and watching them flourish!