Out of the window!

Faced with a challenge of zero space for your own garden? Hang your greens outside your window and resort to box gardening.

- Meghna Menon

In a city where even the balcony comes at a premium cost, I stood in mine, dreaming and planning my own green heaven. As I was admiring the green balconies around me, I suddenly spotted a beautifully-adorned and colourful window box garden. What do I say? It was love at first sight and I decided to create my own miniature garden right outside my bedroom window.

Window box gardens are a great way to dress up your apartment’s exteriors with some colour, grow kitchen veggies despite the absence of a backyard garden, and summon a lovely fragrance into your home. Wondering where to start? We spoke to experts to help you.

choose the right containers

The first step is to identify the container you’ll be using. There are many options, from wooden and plastic to fibre glass, aluminium and iron. “While plastics are lightweight and do not break, they aren’t porous like terracotta,” says Sriram Aravamudan, director, My Sunny Balcony, a Bengaluru-based start-up that offers urban gardening solutions. “You can also opt for ceramic and bamboo,” he adds.

Pick one that is deep enough to accommodate plant roots and doesn’t suffocate them. But remember that these boxes need to be turned around often so that your plants don’t tilt towards one side. If you can’t ensure that, stick to pots in container boxes and ensure proper drainage holes in them. “Put trays under the pots to avoid excess water from trickling down on neighbours or spoiling the building’s facade,” Priyanka Amar, founder of iKheti, a start-up in Mumbai that brings sustainable farming to urban homes.

consider the sunny side