Step-by-Step Guide to Planting a Window Box

This summer, make your dwelling house's exterior fresh and gorgeous past planting those window boxes! (If you don't have window boxes nonetheless, bank check out this tutorial on how to make your ain for an easy DIY!)

window Box planter

If you've ever wondered how to achieve that professional and luscious expect in a window box but aren't quite certain how, this tutorial is for you. We'll bear witness y'all pace-past-footstep photos and give you tips to help you on your way to creating the almost beautiful window box planters on the block.

This photograph represents simply a week or two after planting – like to what the box will wait like when you plant.

Height Tips for Planting a Window Box

Before we get started, we want to share with y'all a few of our top tips regarding the soil in your window box. As you'll see below, we use potting mix for this project today.

You'll want to avoid merely using potting soil in your window box, equally this soil will rapidly lose the needed water and nutrients for your plants.

One thing to go along in mind is to never add organic cloth into your soil, such equally forest chips or straw. You tin add together it onto the top if you really want, simply it shouldn't get into the soil itself.

How to Create a Beautiful Window Box for Your Home

Step ane – Empty Out Your Window Box from the Past Season

If you have used your window box during the past season, at present is the time to empty it out. Get rid of all the soil (you lot don't have to throw it out, though – toss it into the garden or a flower bed) and then you're starting fresh. Information technology'due south important to use fresh soil each season for optimal blossom growth.

Stride 2 – Go Your Potting Mix

Catch your sack of potting mix. Note that this isn't the aforementioned as potting soil. Potting soil is specifically designed for areas such as flower beds, while the potting mix is designed for things such as planters, hanging baskets, and window boxes. You can enquiry why this is true, simply for this tutorial, just accept my discussion for information technology.

Step 3 – Fill up Your Window Box with Potting Mix

Fill your window box to 1"-2" from the peak edge with the potting mix.

Smooth out the potting mix, pressing gently to remove air pockets. Ensure information technology'south nice and evenly spread throughout the window box, to give your plants the best surround to abound.

Step iv – Make up one's mind on the Organization of Your Plants

For spacing purposes, adjust your plants (nevertheless in their pots) in the order you recollect is most attractive. Don't exist afraid to motility things effectually, group them together, spread them autonomously…whatever looks balanced and highly-seasoned. This is function of the fun!

Prepare the flowers for the window planting

Step 5 – Transfer the Arrangement onto the Ground

Transfer this arrangement onto the basis, in the guild that you adamant looks the best. For your reference, this tutorial'southward window box is near 4' long, v" wide, and vi" deep. We planted four wave petunias, four geraniums, 1 creeping Jenny, and ane sweet potato vine, all in 4" pots, for a full of ten plants. This may seem similar a lot, but the pull a fast one on to a cute, luscious window box is packing them in.

Stride half dozen – Begin Planting Your Flowers and Plants

Start on one cease of your box and begin planting, following the layout you've created on the footing nearby.

When you pull a found or flower out of its pot, it's helpful to gently suspension apart the lesser of the root base of operations. It'll probably make a ripping audio, and you lot might feel like you're damaging the institute. But the truth is, you're actually liberating the roots and then they volition grow and expand faster in their new dwelling house than they otherwise would.

Step 7 – Stagger the Plants Throughout Your Window Box

Stagger the positioning of your plants' placement of front-to-back. By this, I mean if you lot desire your taller flowers to make full in the dorsum of the window box (in this case, geraniums), don't exist afraid to plant them closer to the dorsum of the window box. The plants don't need to exist exactly evenly spaced apart.

As you can come across, we planted the "back" row (geraniums) first, leaving plenty space in the "front" row for the other plants.

Pace 8 – Fill in the Front Spaces of Your Window Box

Fill in the front spaces. The order nosotros used (staggered front-to-back in the window box) from left to right was: wave petunia, sweet potato vine, geranium, moving ridge petunia, geranium, moving ridge petunia, geranium, creeping Jenny, geranium, wave petunia.

Pace 9 – Weave Your Soaker Hose Through the Plants

Carefully weave your soaker hose amongst all the plants, taking intendance that each plant has water access. This detail is key to thriving window boxes – if they are non on an automatic watering organisation (soaker hose continued to a drip sprinkler, for example), past mid-summertime your plants will probable be drying out and struggling. Why? Because you're on vacation and decorated and forget to h2o! It'south only natural.

Stake the end of your soaker hose down with a landscape staple.

Pace x – Make Whatever Final Adjustments to Your Window Box Brandish

Make whatsoever adjustments you lot remember you need at this indicate, either to the soaker hose or the plants themselves.

Pace xi – Add Actress Potting Mix equally Needed

Add in the actress potting mix where needed. We try to aim for the dry potting mix level hitting nigh 1/2″-i" from the height of the box considering when water is added, the potting mix will compact a fleck.

Yous're close to existence done (nosotros're certain your window box looks cute at this bespeak!), merely at that place'due south ane final footstep to help your professional person-looking box flourish.

Step 12 – Add Fertilizer to Your Window Box

Go your hands on a fertilizer that focuses on root growth and blooming. We utilise this Fertilome Blooming & Rooting fertilizer with great success – information technology helps with root growth, h2o retention in the potting mix, and tedious-release fertilization over several months.

Dilute it with h2o as per instructions and pour the fertilizer thoroughly over the plants in your window box. Now just water regularly (every day or two, hopefully via your automated system) and fertilize with regular flower fertilizer a couple of times a calendar week. A practiced dominion of thumb for sufficient watering in a window box is water until you run into water dripping through the holes in the lesser of your window box, so you know the potting mix is sufficiently saturated for that day.

Window box planting one week and half after planting

This photo shows the window box near ane.five weeks after planting. Sunshine and warm temperatures had been scarce during that time, so the plants are maintaining but not expanding.

This photo shows the window box about four weeks subsequently planting. Warmer temperatures helped the geraniums bloom and the petunias explode. The creeping Jenny and sweetness potato vine should follow suit.

We were so pleased with how this window box turned out, and we dear the pop of color information technology adds to the exterior of the dwelling. It's such a simple projection, and creating your own window box is very easy to do also. A window box is so easy to refresh each season, and yous can add new flowers and plants to continue upwards with the changing colors. For anyone with merely a pocket-sized garden infinite, you'll still be able to add extra flowers to your dwelling this twelvemonth without taking up much room at all.

Colorful blooms brand any space a pretty 1, and a window box is no exception. (Want more? Bank check out our tutorial for planting flower hanging baskets!

Happy planting!

The all-time plants for window boxes

Yous'd recall actually building the planter box is the hardest part of this sort of project just choosing what plants to fill information technology with is non an easy process either. To help you lot out nosotros did some enquiry and institute out what the best plants for window boxes are.

Petunias

This is one of the most colorful and beautiful plants for the summertime season. It makes these vibrant blooms which tin be white, red, pinkish or purple and which you can combine if you desire a multicolored brandish for your windows.

Coleus

The coleus plant is a lovely choice if you desire some color but you're non that fond of flowering plants. Its leaves look magnificent and are famous for their blood-red and purple colors and their beautiful patterns. They wait gorgeous in window boxes and they're great filler plants if y'all want to combine them with something else.

Creeping Jenny

Speaking of filler plants and beautiful colors, the creeping jenny is absolutely magnificent. It cascades down from window boxes and planters and has these lovely penny-shaped leaves in a really vibrant shade of green.

Sweet irish potato vine

Another actually neat choice for those who love leaf and interesting colors is the sweet spud vine which comes in several different varieties. The green and purple variants are actually beautiful and stand out without being too bold almost it.

Dusty Miller

The dusty miller establish is famous for its exquisite silver-colored leaves which look similar they're frosty just also have this soft and delicate look too. They don't grow very tall and they do well in the oestrus or with express water which ways keeping them salubrious is non demanding at all.

Snapdragon

The Snapdragon flowers are vibrant and centre-catching and they grow quite tall so they're a squeamish choice for window boxes considering you can see them from within. This is a summer institute so you might want to combine it with a few other ones if y'all want color all year circular.

Fuchsia

The fuchsia establish, just like the color, is assuming and eye-catching. Its flowers feature a magnificent combination of brilliant pinkish and purple which stand up out in any context. It doesn't actually like to be exposed to total sunlight and then avert putting it in window boxes that don't get shade throughout the solar day.

Impatiens

A lot of flowers and plants don't enjoy existence exposed to total lord's day which can exist a problem in some cases. Nonetheless, shade is not piece of cake to deal with either. The impatiens plant is one of few which thrive in shaded areas and also make colorful flowers likewise.

Verbena

Some other eye-catching establish is the verbena which makes these bright pink and majestic flowers which stripes on the petals that make them look like trivial candy canes. They look delicious and they're a great fit foe window boxes because they have a cascading appearance.

Licorice

The licorice plant may not be very colorful just it stands out in a unlike way. It's famous for its felted leaves which look super soft and fuzzy and have this subtle white overlay that dims their green colour. There's also some other version which has yellow tones.

Variegata

This institute is likewise known as variegated ivy and is a wonderful choice for window boxes particularly if you want something that will pour downward and that'south too super piece of cake to maintain. It'due south non fussy nearly sunlight and it's too drought-tolerant and so yous don't really have to worry about information technology too much.

Ornamental grass

In addition to all these fancy and colorful window box plants and flowers, there'southward as well some other blazon that might appeal to you in a dissimilar way: ornamental grass. Yous can use information technology equally a filler plant or to add texture and color to a window box.

DIY window box planter ideas:

Off-the-shelf window boxes are definitely user-friendly but don't really offer much in terms of originality and customization, not if y'all want something very specific. They're as well usually designed in standard sizes then you might accept problem finding one that fits. Luckily there's always the DIY route.

A lattice window box

This is such a uncomplicated design but it'south also a beautiful beautiful i. The lattice window boxes featured on prettyhandygirl are deep enough to let the plants lots of room to abound and unproblematic enough to allow the focus to be on the greenery.

A simple wooden box

Wooden window boxes are perfect for giving the exterior of your house that homely and inviting look. If the windows have shutters that'due south a wonderful opportunity to add planters that match those. A lovely example in that sense can be institute on beneathmyheart.

Extra long window box

As mentioned earlier, off-the-shelf window boxes have certain standard dimensions which means if you want something super long you'll probably have to built it yourself. This extra long box design from twotwentyone is great if you lot have double or triple windows and you lot want to unify them and to keep the décor simple on the outside.

Pallet boxes

Reclaimed wooden pallets are an excellent resource for lots of DIY projects, including these lovely window boxes from paradiseperspectives. Utilize the pallet wood if you want to keep the price of the project depression but also if you lot desire to give the boxes a rustic and worn wait for more authenticity.

Simple stained box

Isn't this window planter just charming? The 1 featured on shanty-2-chic is perfect for this old brick business firm because information technology virtually blends in. That really helps the brightly-colored flowers and leaves to stand out more than and to await admittedly dreamy.

A design to friction match the window

Diy window box planter with fake flowers and birdhouses add curb appeal

Window boxes are not necessarily designed to be placed under the windows but if you exercise cull to do information technology this way perhaps information technology would exist overnice to become with a matching design. You can brand your window boxed match the windows in colour and fashion, similar this one from remodelaholic does.

Mini fence planter

Does this window box from makeit-loveit remind yous of spotter fences? Well that's considering it was actually fabricated from cedar fence planks. If yous don't desire to build information technology from scratch you could cull instead to decorate an existing planter with some cut fence boards.

Chevron boxes

If yous already have some window boxes that are still in good shape there's no reason to supercede them yet. You can instead simply give them a makeover. How well-nigh this absurd chevron pattern idea from addicted2decorating? It'south pretty easy to get right and you can have a lot of fun combining colors and creating an interesting design for it.

Scrap wood planter

Scrap wood, whether it'due south from a pallet, some old argue boards or leftover pieces from previous projects, is a great resource for window boxes and planter in general. This simple blueprint from instructables shows you how to can really emphasize its beauty and uniqueness. Showtime you make a uncomplicated box, and then you decorate the forepart with boards of unlike sizes, shapes and colors.

A blueprint that blends in

The window boxes themselves don't need to stand out too much. It'southward really the contents that become that privilege. With that in heed, yous might want to come up up with a pattern for your DIY window boxes that allows them to alloy in and to look natural underneath your windows. The design featured on this tutorial on construction2style seems just right.

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Source: https://www.homedit.com/window-box-planters/