Landscaping Ideas-A Great Way to Add a Bountiful View from your Kitchen Garden Window

Do you have a functional kitchen garden window that provides a view of nothing?  Many windows of this type face a part of the yard that indeed does give the homeowner a nice view outwards.  However, for those of you who are victimized by a lifeless view of your empty side yard, here is a way to incorporate the natural flow of other parts of your yard in to an amazing view from your kitchen. 

I am a big fan of color in the garden, whether it is a monochromatic evergreen theme, or a tri-color variety of plants and flowers that round out and frame the home and property.  So, what better way to continue that flow of nature than by incorporating a planter box, trellis, and evergreen type of flowering vine in to the floral equation.  Here is how we do it:

Shallow side yards benefit the most from this landscape decorating technique by bringing what is a floral focal point closer to view.  However, deeper side yards can also absorb the benefits of this project.  Note:  The use of a planter box can be skipped if you have enough of a planning area along your side fence or wall to give your vine a new home.  Here are the supplies you will need for your project:

Trellis for mounting your vine, and to give it a showy start.  Be sure to pick one that will fit inside your planter box since that is where you will place it. 

• Planter box for planting your vine: Again, skip this if you prefer to plant your vine in ground.
• Wax coated gardeners ties ( they look like the twisties we see in the produce section of the market, but with a protective coating
• Potting soil if you are using the planter box option
• Mulch
• Evergreen flowering vine (we chose a Potato Vine for its evergreen nature and multiseasonal flowering habit)

Step 1:  Position your planter box so that it is centered along the fence or wall when viewing from inside of your garden window.  Place your trellis inside of the planter box along the back wall of the box and brace it with medium size rocks to hold in place.  As an alternative, you can secure your trellis to the planter box with screws, and in fact should probably do so if it is of the wood variety.

Step 2:  Line the bottom of your planter box, which hopefully has drainage holes, with gravel or other small rocks for drainage purposes.  Then, following the planting instructions that came with your vine, plant your vine and add a layer of mulch for moisture retention, weed control, and root protection. 

Step 3:  Now, you simply untie your vine from the upright wooden staff that it came with for transporting, and gently separate the individual legs of the vine for mounting on the trellis.  Once untangled, use your wax coated gardeners ties to mount the vine legs to the trellis.  Be sure to water your newly transplanted vine, and stand inside your kitchen garden window for a magnificent evergreen and floral view.

Happy planting!