Window Box Template Gardening

Last summer my wife and I started gardening on the deck more intensively. We began by building a plant stand for the deck that held four 24” planters. After reading about various intensive planting methods, we decided to make templates for planting seeds in the planters. We have provided two different templates. Depending on the vegetable grown, each template provides a double row planting layout that accommodates the narrow width of the planter. Due to the small size of the container in general, it is ideally planted with radishes, lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots and the like. Just place a few seeds in each hole and thin after they have two true leaves.

Tools/Materials

Tools:

Drill or Drill Press
¾” Bit
Ruler/tape measure
Pencil or Pin

Materials:

Wood 1x6 by 24” long
Planter box (optional)

Board Size

Measure your box dimensions. I think the boxes I have are pretty standard and run about 6” x 23” (inside dimensions). Cut the 1x6 so it fits in the box. For my case, I was able leave the standard width at 5.5” and cut down the length to 22.5”

Determine Hole Spacing

Here are a few vegetable varieties and planting spacing:

For Template 1 (1.5" spacing along the row), plant the following vegetables:

Carrot 'Little Finger' or similar
Radish
Chives
Peas, short non-climbing

For Template 2 (3" spacing along the row), plant the following vegetables:

Green Onion
Garlic
Leek
Beets

Mark Holes Per Template 1 or 2

Use the ruler or tape measure to mark off the spacing.

Drill Hole at Locations

Ready the Soil

Place potting soil into the planter and gently firm.

Set Template

Place template on top of the potting soil.

Place Seeds

We used Template 1 and chose radishes for our first planter box. Put a few seeds in each hole of the template. Note that some seeds might not germinate.