RE: Off-Topic: Window boxes

Hi Devon,

You wrote:


> What a great idea, to get a relative to make the boxes for 
> you!  Maybe I
> could manage to build them.  Ha Ha.  But the price of the 
> pre-made ones is
> staggering, so maybe this really is the moment to upgrade my carpentry
> skills.

Truly, my son has no "skills" in this area, unless you count the saw with
that name (skill saw).  They are not fancy boxes; I didn't even paint them.
The theory was they will be so full of flowers why bother?

> I can't imagine how you would avoid the splitting.  What 
> design changes will
> you make to avoid it.  

It's the way you use the wood grain.  The way we used the grain made a
perfect way for it to split along the grain where most of the stress was.
If we'd used the piece in the other direction, it would have been stronger.
I'm just relating what bro in law said -- he's a woodworker.  I get the
concept, but if we had to make the boxes over again, I'd need more direction
than that myself.

Are your boxes just a standard box shape?  

Yes, just oblong.  I have a bay window  and two of them are 4' long and the
center is 5' long, so the boxes just travel around the window, no mitered
corners or anything.

> Would pressure-treated lumber work (although I am wary of the 
> chemicals in
> it)?  Maybe I should paint them the color of my house (white)?

I know on organic gardening lists pressure treated wood is always
discouraged for edibles.  I don't know if it would make much difference for
flowers.  Living in Oregon, I thought cedar would be a good choice.  There
may be better choices for strength.

> What kind of brackets do you use?  Just standard L shaped 
> brackets that
> fasten on the bottom?  

Yes, but big honkin' ones -- like $6 each at a lumber store.  We but 3 under
each window.

What keeps the box from sliding off 
> (other than its
> dead weight)?

He did attach them to the window sill by drilling them in with long,
galvinized screws.  But they are pulling away from that because of the
weight.  One of the things my bro in law suggested was putting a band of
some sort around them.  I don't know what he's going to do to fix them; I
just hope it works.

> Do you use the "beads" that absorb moisture in your soil mix 
> so that you
> don't have to water as often?  Is that successful for window 
> boxes (I can't
> imagine why it wouldn't be)?

I don't, but that's probably a good idea.  With 12" deep boxes, it's not
necessary, but I wouldn't make them 12" deep again, either.  Not unless
there was a better way to mount them with such heavy soil in them.

Susan Saxton, zone 6b

For mine is a little old-fashioned garden where the flowers come
together to praise the Lord and teach all who look upon them to do
likewise.
Celia Thaxter

I AM in shape.  ROUND is a shape!

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