DIY

Build a Bog Container

1 / 2
Fill your window bog with insect eating carniverous plants.
Fill your window bog with insect eating carniverous plants.
2 / 2
“How to Window Box” by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit, helps readers to create the right window box based on their needs.
“How to Window Box” by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit, helps readers to create the right window box based on their needs.

How to Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out (Clarkson Potter, 2018), by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit teaches readers how to build the right window box to fit their individual needs. The window boxes vary from low water and light to high water and light. Grow a convenient window box full of lettuce for easy chopping or a box with detoxifying plants to clean the air they are in. This excerpt is located in, “The Window Bog.”

Create a Bog

The Window Bog – “Grow Insect Eating Plants in a Window Bog”

You Will Need

• Gardening clippers or sharp scissors

• 1/4-inch (3/8-inch outer diameter) × 6 inches polyethylene tubing

• Plastic liner to fit the inside of your box (see Tip)

• Tape measure

• Masking tape

• Drill with 3/8-inch drill bit

• 80-grit sandpaper

• Small tube silicone sealant

• Latex glove

Tip

 For a cleaner look, we opted to create our own liner by cutting acrylic sheeting to fit the inside dimensions of our box and sealing the pieces together with silicone sealant.

1. Using clippers, cut the tubing in half so that you have two 3-inch lengths.

2. Place the liner in the window box and measure 2 inches from each end, marking these places with masking tape. Drill two 3/8 inch holes through the bottom of the liner and the wood at the 2-inch marks (A). Remove the tape and rough up the holes in the plastic liner with sandpaper (B).

3. Insert the plastic drainage tubes through each hole so that 1-1/2 – 2 inches of the tubing pokes through the liner (C). There should be just under 1/2 inch of tube sticking out below the bottom panel. If needed, remove and trim the tubes with the clippers as required to achieve these heights.

4. Sand the outside of each tube and fit it back in the box at the final height, making sure both tubes are even to each other. Wipe surfaces with a damp cloth and apply sealant around the tube penetration. Wearing a latex glove, smooth the bead of sealant with your finger (D). Allow 24 hours to dry.

5. Fill the box with 1 inch of water to test for leakage before adding soil and plants (E).

More from How to Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out:

• Cultivate Your Own Cacti Window Box


Reprinted from How to Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out. Copyright © 2018 by Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit. Photographs by Ryan Benoit. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

  • Published on Mar 5, 2018
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368
Mother Earth News Gardening
Mother Earth News Gardening
Free expert advice on all aspects of growing.