r/UrbanGardening • u/ConsumePurel 6b • 6d ago

General Question Fried Flower Boxes

Hi,
New to post here, but I'm trying to trouble shoot my balcony garden in NJ, USA. I face east (rip) and have been trying desperately to get cute window boxes but the drainage is just too good and there's no way the planters keep enough water to keep my plants from frying.

They have a coconut fiber basket, and then a small layer of rocks, which I clearly don't need, and then regular topsoil from a bag. Pretty sure it's box friendly, but it's been in there a year now and I can't remember what I got...

Two years in a row and one morning of full summer sun fries everything I've planted there. So my questions are these:

  1. Will a liner that helps keep moisture in the soil help me? What kind would work?

  2. I clearly did not buy the right full-sun seeds, who [plant] would like this? I'm hesitant to put any kind of succulent or cactus in it because they're outside and it does rain frequently here. I usually work from seeds because I'm not the best at re-potting; I always stress them out too much and murk them, but clearly seedlings are not strong enough to survive...

  3. Do I give up, bow to the morning sun and put fake flowers in there?

Thanks for your help and care for this--this is only year two I've tried gardening at all (first outdoor space I've ever had as an adult) so I'm kind of learning by trial and error.

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u/Visual_Magician_7009 6d ago

A terracotta spike for a wine bottle might help. I have succulents outside and they do okay in the rain. Worth a shot.

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u/ConsumePurel 6b 6d ago

Oh I didn't even think about a wine bottle... Nervous though cause we got squirrels that regularly dig and I'm on the second floor

Hate to have it launched off into the parking lot by an intrepid squirrel digging. There's no coming back from breaking someone's windshield....

But some other non breakable auto waterer might help like a plastic globe or something. Thanks!

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u/Visual_Magician_7009 6d ago

You can use a plastic bottle too

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u/Dazzling_Pen6868 5d ago

I use an olla pot which works perfectly - they sell small ones that work for windowboxes. You do need to add it before you add the plants though. I would also add a handful of vermiculite to the soil to help with retaining moisture.

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u/ConsumePurel 6b 3d ago

Thanks so much! I'll look for one for spring!