Organic window Box

Start a Window Box Garden by MATTHEW BUQUOI
Start a Window Box Garden

Gardening is a concept that grows each year, especially as the organic food and whole foods concepts are in full rage. Many people have turned to starting their own garden to go one step further with this concept. Starting your own garden can be time consuming and filled with mistakes. Window box gardening is a good way to learn some basic gardening skills and save a ton of time and money. Additionally, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of gardening from a window inside your home.
Gardening is a pleasure for both the gardener and the chef who will prepare the fresh fruits and vegetables. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, a window box is a simple and convenient way to maintain a miniature garden. Depending on the season, different plants and techniques are recommended to best optimize your garden. With summer winding down, your garden will need a little special care in order to produce a banner crop.

The first consideration is to plant things that do not need a lot of room. A window box will be somewhat confining and depending on the size of your window box there may be a few limits as to what you can grow in your garden. A window box should be at least 6 inches tall and deep to grow most vegetables, flowers, and plants. Getting a window box large enough for plants and flowers will give you more options year round to use them for other than gardening. Also, consider a no rot window box, which will last up to 30 years without needing to be replaced.

Now is the time to plant additional vegetable seeds for the fall harvest. Peas, spinach, lettuce, endive, beans, carrots, turnips, swiss chard, and beets are all excellent late summer plantings. These vegetables thrive in cool and humid temperatures.

Continue harvesting vegetables when they are young and tender and cook them as soon as possible. This will increase your yields and extend your harvest. Be on the lookout for insects and treat without pesticides if possible. Any plant that is heavily infested should be removed from your garden and destroyed.

With the rainfalls we have received this summer, you will need to give your garden an extra boost of fertilizer. Rainfall leaches the nutrients from the soil and robs the plants of vital nutrition needed to produce. Now is a perfect time to side dress the plants with granular fertilizer or to water with liquid plant food.

Afterwards, what happens to all the vegetables that you've planted and then harvested? Freezing and canning are the answer. You will have vegetables in your freezer or on your shelf to enjoy long after frost ends the season. Almost everything you plant can be frozen or canned. Blanching or steaming is very important in freezing all vegetables. Vegetables should be heated and steamed then immediately cooled before freezing. This process eliminates any unwanted bacteria.

And of course, even a window box needs weed prevention and care to make sure you are maximizing your efforts. The weeds are robbing your plants of moisture and nutrients and are encouraging insects and diseases in your garden. After the garden is weeded and side-dressed with granular fertilizer, water thoroughly and apply Preen or Concern to prevent weeds from returning. These weed killers should keep you "weed-free" through the end of the growing season.

Gardening from a window box is fun and most importantly simple. It's a great way to start a garden and learn the basics in a way that is convenient and time saving. This also gives you ideas of what window boxes can be used for in the hot and colder seasons when spring flower blooms begin to disappear.