Window boxes are the first vegetables garden for many people. Attractive window boxes are probably more appreciated than any other form of container gardening, they brighten city streets, embellish housing estates and often display marvellous ingenuity of color that takes an enormous amount of time and care to achieve.
To grow your little vegetables garden successfully in a window box demands all this, but provided sufficient care is taken and the plants are watered and fed on a regular basis, excellent results can be obtained that will astonish everyone.
Practical considerations. There are a number of practical things to consider. First of all the window box must fit beneath the window where it is to be placed. Then it must be securely fastened in position.
When it is full of plants and compost a window box is fairly heavy and anyone planning a window box overhanging a busy street must be certain that it is held firmly in place.
The box must also blend in with the building, window boxes are normally made of wood or plastic and these can be painted to match the color of the paintwork around the window.
The window box must be able to drain freely. The bottom must have a number of drainage holes and if it is placed flat on a windowsill then it should be supported on wood or clay chocks to allow free drainage.
Watering and feeding. Plants in a window box need watering frequently, and feeding at least once a fortnight. They do not contain a large amount of compost so plants growing in them need additional encouragement in order to flourish.
Plants for window boxes. The most obvious window box plants are herbs, especially if the window faces south or west. They can be mixed with a few strawberry plants for fruit in the summer and some small bush tomato plants can be included. If the window box is fed and watered regularly then they will all yield a reasonable crop. Other good salad plants include lettuces or baby carrots whose roots do not require any great depth of soil or some of the baby vegetables that mature quickly.
If you prefer to look at flowers rather than green vegetables then you can plant a number of flowering herbs. A good number are suitable and these include chives that flower in early summer, and the colorful nasturtiums that flower at the end.
grow plants that mature quickly and change the contents of the box frequently with the seasons.
