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I’ve been blogging about which plants are best suited for each window direction recently. See the north, south, east, and west facing windows blogs for more details. Now I want to give you some ideas of how to situate your plants to make the most of your windows. If you are looking for a window sill planter, I have some recommendations below along with tips to increase the number of plants you can put in your window.
Window Sill Planter
When you are looking for a window sill planter odds are your mind goes to a rectangular or oblong shape. They make planters in this shape and they do make a great fit for a long narrow window sill. These types of planters are appealing because they make great use of space and you can fit multiple plants. The drawback is with watering. You want to make sure the planter has drainage at the bottom. A surprising number do not. Also, if you plan to put multiple plants in the planter, it can be difficult to keep the right soil moisture for all the plants.
If you really like that long rectangular look, they also make this style with separate plant pots. This design will make it easier to monitor and maintain soil moisture for individual plants.
Hanging Planters
Hanging planters are an excellent way to add additional plants without taking up window sill real estate. They come in so many sizes and styles that you’re sure to find something you like. I’ve seen very modern geometric styles, the bohemian macramé style, and even one that looked like a hanging sloth! It used to be that you mainly saw people putting trailing and vining house plants in hanging planters, but you can keep many types of plants in them. Generally any plant that stays on the shorter side works well in a hanging planter.
Soil moisture can be an issue for hanging planters. I recommend that you select one with a drainage hole. That can be messy. You can place something under your plant when you water it to catch the excess water. Or you can give your plant smaller sips of water, but that might not be good for your plant in the long run.
There are a number of ways to secure hanging planters. If your window casing is made of wood, you can screw a hook into the top pretty easily (just like you would when you install blinds). I’ve also seen people install curtain rods for the sole purpose of hanging multiple plants from it. If you’re in an apartment, or you don’t want to make holes, you might try adhesive shower rod mounts on the inside your window casing. Mounts like the one below have been rated to hold up to 20 pounds which may afford you two decent sized hanging plants! Keep in mind, you will have to buy a shower rod or cut a wooden dowel rod to fit your window as well.
Window Shelves
DIY Shelf for Window Sill Planters
I’ll share two do-it-yourself window shelf ideas. The first is my own invention. It works for smaller plants. I’d say in a five inch plant pot or smaller. This is another good option for apartment folks who don’t want to put holes in the window frame. Before you do this, make sure your window has this gap with weather stripping that you will slide the L bracket into. See below, I have a metal ruler slid into this gap to demonstrate.
What do you need?
- Three 1.5 inch metal L bracket
- Six small wood screws (you may also need metal washers if your screws are too long or your wood is too thin.)
- One 6 by 6 inch square of wood
- A screwdriver (Optional drill. This will make it easier to screw the screws, but not necessary.)
Attach the L brackets, evenly spaced, to the piece of wood. Be sure that you mark the holes so that the metal pieces that are perpendicular to the wood are even. This is what will slide into that window gap so they need to line up. You may predrill the screw holes if you have a drill. My screws were small enough I just used pure muscle. In fact my wood was thin enough (just half an inch) that I had to use metal washers so my screws didn’t go through the other side.
Another DIY option is to build a window shelf to increase space for your window sill planter. There are a lot of ways to do this. The idea is to attach a bracket to the inside of your window casing. These brackets will support a wood board cut to the width of your window that you place on top of the brackets. If your window is really wide, this might not be a great idea. The wood board will sag in the middle from lack of support. Design Sponge has a great How To for this type of shelf using acrylic instead of wood.
Hanging Window Shelves
If you want to have multiple window sill planters in your window, hanging window shelves will do the trick. These hanging shelves may be great if you want to keep your plants up high and out of reach of children or pets. They come in many styles and sizes. It’s good to know ahead of time which plants you want to keep on your hanging shelf because you want to buy a shelf that the plants will actually fit on. Make sure the shelves are deep enough for the pot and the space between the shelves is tall enough for the plant to grow vertically.
Narrow Storage Shelf
Some window sills are deep enough to fit a narrow shelving unit. This is a great way to add more space for window sill planters without any tools. This is also great for people in apartments. You can find some surprisingly thin shelves. Plan out your plants ahead of time for these as well. The shelving units aren’t going to be very spacious when they are so narrow. Make sure your plants will get enough light as well (i.e. light is not blocked by shelves).
Tension Shelves
I have been seeing these a lot lately and I think it’s an excellent idea! These tension shelves are installed vertically, and they come with circular shelves for plant pots. It’s a really interesting concept. The tension rods are adjustable to certain sizes. You could put one inside the window casing or they also make ones large enough to go floor to ceiling. People rave about the small footprint.
How do you make the best use of your windows’ real estate? Do you have any DIY solutions? Share in the comments.
Alice Ramey
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I’m a long time plant lover on the quest to happily coexist with as many plants as I can. Let’s grow!
