Wooden flower boxis a nice design element for a garden, terrace or balcony. The wood looks natural and fits most plants, and a properly securedwooden boxwill serve us for many years. We can plant in it not only attractive flowers, but also plants with decorative leaves, vegetables or herbs. Seehow to make a flower boxand how to plant it nicely with plants.
A wooden flower box planted with plants such as: Peruvian heliotrope, African daisy, tuberous begonia, ivy-leaved pelargonium, Helichrysum
How to make a flower box
If we want tomake a flower box , all you need is a willingness, a few hours of work, the right tools and a few elements needed to build such a box - properly selected boards, angles, nails or screws , as well as an impregnation to protect the wood, foil to insulate the crate and polystyrene to insulate it.
And if we already have a box, even an old one and a bit damaged, it is enough to renew it to make it suitable for planting plants. If ourwooden flower boxis in good condition, not dirty, has no splinters or stains, we will save a lot of time. Then just wash the wood with detergent and dry it.
A wooden flower box requires adequate protection against rotting and rotting
However, if it is very damaged, at the beginning we have to clean ourwooden box mechanicallyfrom various types of deposits, fungi, splinters, stains, grease.It is better to use fine sandpaper for this, as too thick one can damage the wood. Sanding improves the adhesion of subsequent paint or impregnation.
When ourwooden flower boxis sanded and cleaned, we can proceed to painting it with wood impregnation. You can choose colorless or a specific color wood impregnation. They will protect our wood against weather conditions and ensure an aesthetic appearance. The wood will be nourished and preserved for a long time. The treatment will have to be repeated once every few years.
If we want tomake a flower box , in which perennial plants will grow, wintering in the box left outside, the edges of the walls should be additionally covered with a layer of polystyrene (it is best to use 1.5 to 2.5 sheets) cm). This will protect the plants from frost and large temperature fluctuations. It is also important that ourflower boxdoes not stand directly on the ground.
Wooden flower box - we protect the inside of the box with foil
Interiorof a wooden box for flowerslined it with black foil so that the box does not rot from the inside. At the bottom of the pot, we can cut out the drainage opening so that excess water can drain freely. It is good to protect the edge of the holes with waterproof glue so that water does not get under the wood and the mesh, so that the soil does not fall off the pot. The foil is attached to the walls of the box with staples or nails with wide and flat heads. Place the foil flush with the upper edge of the box.
How to Plant Flowers in a Wooden Box
When ourwooden flower boxis ready for planting, we pour coarse-grained gravel, expanded clay or other aggregate on the bottom, which will serve as drainage and prevent plant roots from rotting. The water from such a box must drain well so that the water does not stand and cause soil compaction.After laying the drainage layer, it is time to pour in the substrate for plant cultivation. It can be garden peat (deacidified peat will be better for most flowers) mixed with sand and gravel. It can also be ordinary universal earth or acidic earth. Everything will depend on the requirements of the plants that we plant in our container.
Wooden flower box - planting plants
The substrate should be enriched with organic fertilizer, such as manure, or with inorganic fertilizers in the form of granules. Long-acting fertilizers that are applied once in spring and will last for the entire season work very well. Of course, if we want, we can also use liquid fertilizers. The latter work quickly after application, but we have to dose and choose them properly. If we have little time for watering, our substrate can be mixed with a hydrogel - a water absorbent that stores water and supplies it to the plant when the soil begins to dry out.
To make it easier, it is worth choosing a product that combines all these additives togetherI mean TerraCottem, which in its composition contains a dose of fertilizer, hydrogel and fragments of volcanic rock, which improves the structure of the earth. TerraCottem allowsto avoid the need for additional fertilizationin the first year after planting andto reduce water consumption for watering even by half!
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The last step isplantingflowers or other plants in the crate. The choice of them is huge. We can choose from perennials, annual plants, ornamental grasses and many other balcony, vegetable and herbal plants. Just remember thatthe wooden flower boxshould not be planted too densely, because the plants will grow and they must have space for it.
Eng. landscape architect Piotr Moliński
