My sons will water the back garden but not the window boxes at the front. Dilemma!

[urbanflora]

My two sons, both in their late teens/early twenties, live at home and are pretty good at helping round the house - cooking, cleaning etc etc. One is at college and the other is at work.

However one thing they hate doing is watering the windowboxes in the front of the house. They are fine about watering the back garden but say they feel embarrassed to be seen by anyone watering our window boxes.

The windowboxes are heavy and high up. They need to be lifted down to water them. Neither dh or I can safely do this. The boys are both stronger and taller than us so can do this easily. When dh and I went away recently, ds1 watered the flowers and veg in the back garden, tidied the kitchen and lounge, but totally refused to do anything with the window boxes.

I am surprised at their resistance to this simple but essential gardening chore. They seem to see it as a bit effeminate and this saddens me too.

Should I make a big deal of this or let it go?

wake them up every 2 days at 3am to do it - so no one sees them.

You could wake them up by pouring a watering can of water on them.

Can you do it from inside?

although you probably need to find a way to do it yourself - what if they move out?

get a supersoaker?

Can you get drip feeders for them ? Should last a few days.

You should let this go. They are not your employees and are generally helpful in other ways. Thing is, if everyone contributes to the home, everyone should have a bit of a say regarding the environment. Perhaps ask them, nicely, if they would take them down & you go out with them so if neighbours decide to chat they will talk to you. Then don't put them up at the front again. You maybe could have something at the front you can reach and look after yourself.

I'd just water them from indoors. They are already being very useful so picking your battles is key.

I can't do it from inside as our front windows do not open properly.

Even if I run a hose through the house and hold the hose above my head, I am still not tall enough to reach the window boxes and angle the hose correctly.

move to Scotland - we have lots of rain. problem solved

Why is watering plants embarrassing?

And how did you acquire window boxes that you cannot water? Your DSs have not been that tall forever.

Trills I'm guessing they don't want to be waylaid having those sort of 'polite conversations' people passing will often start.

Yes, trills, I don't understand why watering plants is embarrassing.

I used to be able to water the window boxes myself but my back is not so good now and I don't want to risk a back injury, especially when there are two members of the family who can do this job so easily.

The boys like the window boxes - they just don't want to do this one simple thing. All of us decided to make more use of our garden (front and back) this year, so we have been growing vegetables, having bbqs outside etc.

Ask them if it would make a difference if you went out to the front with them to chat to any of the neighbour's who might want to make conversation.

I say this because, I am a bit ashamed to say, I sometimes avoid small talk even though I'm generally quite friendly. For this reason am eternally grateful that my husband does the front garden. I see him engaging in a lot of chat with people passing.

Do you live in one of those villages?

Getting a supersoaker did cross my mind and the use of them is not unknown to my sons :)

If I used a supersoaker, I still don't think I am tall enough to angle the water correctly. The plants in the window box have lots of leaves so you need to get underneath them to get at the soil.

I guess I could ask sons about the supersoaker option but I think the eccentricity of this method would be too much for them now.

I use a watering lance, like the one veryproud linked to, that will solve your problem.

One of the shitty things about getting older is having to let stuff go. If you can't manage the boxes yourselves it's probably time to rethink and either get very light ones, find a way to water them yourselves or get rid. As a PP said, the boys could soon be gone anyway.
If the flowers are an issue that's daft though. Put decorative edibles in the boxes instead if they'd be ok with that?

Move the window boxes round the back
Problem solved

Veryproud, thanks for the link to the watering lance. It could work ok I think - worth investigating anyway.

I'm all for picking your battles and it's probably the best solution. It does feel like putting a like a sticking plaster over the problem. I just can't get my head around why my sons feel they can't water window boxes in the front.

urban do you have no little, slightly unreasonable, foibles yourself? How would you feel if no one cut you any slack over them or couldn't 'get over' them? There is your explanation.

Isn't the answer to get rid of the window boxes? They sound a hassle.

How did you manage to plant them and hang them up?

Isn't it a legal requirement to have fully opening upstairs windows so you can get out in the event of a fire?

This isn't worth arguing over - I'd get rid of the window boxes.