Ok, so you bought a wooden window box and it was absolutely gorgeous when you first installed it.  You remember it like it was yesterday, but now it's starting to show signs of rot and decay and problems are starting to loom.  The real problem is that it really does seem like just yesterday that you put it up.  That's because the average wooden window box only lasts 3 years.  In many cases signs of rot begin to show in as little as months.  I remember a story that a good friend of mine who used to be a builder once told me.  He was building about a hundred houses in a neighborhood and it was a two year project.  They had placed wooden window boxes on some of the first custom homes that were built.  Before they had even finished the neighborhood and only one year into the project they were having to replace window boxes on those same first homes because they were already rotting out. 

As beautiful as wood is it comes with a price and that price is maintenance.  We all love the look of wood, but we just don't won't to deal with the hassles and the maintenance.  For those of you who are new to window box gardening or are interested in considering a window box purchase, my best recommendation to you is to consider PVC window boxes.  PVC window boxes look just like wood but without any of the maintenance.  They can be painted and I've met many people who can't tell the difference between PVC and wood.  Unlike vinyl, it does not have a shiny appearance or come off as plastic.  And unlike fiberglass, which will never be mistaken for wood, it has a genuine look and is twice as affordable. 

For the DIYs who already have a wooden window box and want to know if there is anything they can do to save them, here are a few tips.  Bondo, bondo, and more bondo.  Step one is to remove as much rot as possible from the window box.  Any patch that is less than one inch in diameter can often be filled with bond and sanded smooth and flush with the box.  If your window box has rot that extends more than two inches across, then it will be difficult to patch it and you will have to consider replacing it.  An additional board in the bottom can sometimes be installed, but only if it can be screwed into parts of the window box that are not rotted from underneath.