Prepping the Fruit Shed for Seedlings
Fruit Shed
Last week’s blog was about ordering seeds, this week is a follow up to that. In addition to getting my head around what seeds I want to order; I am also re-strategizing on where and how I’m going to start my seedlings. Last year it was complete chaos as Andy, and I were complete Market Garden novices. We have this awesome fruit shed which is insulated, has electricity and grow lights already installed in it. Because of that we decided to store our patio plants in it over the winter. Then when it came time to start our seedlings for the Market Garden, we thought we could also do that in the shed. We added a few more heat lamps and thought we were good to go. Nope! The patio plants were doing so well, there was little to no room, and they were so big there was little to no light available for our tiny little seedlings. The later soon met their demise and we had to start again, second time around, there were a few days we forgot to water and… we had to start yet again!
Fast forward to this fall. This time around we did not store our patio plants in the fruit shed but instead made a second temporary green house in the garage and brought a few of the larger ones into the main house. This allows us to devote the fruit shed to the Market Garden and starting our seedlings. Thus far, we’ve set up one table under one of the grow lights already installed in the shed. The plan is to bring in another table to go under the second grow light and add additional heat lamps. As I start, the seedlings if we find we need more space for the trays we will either add a third table and a third grow light or purchase a metal shelving unit and purchase individual grow lights for each self, adding more heat lamps as needed.
I’ve also washed all the seed trays and have moved them to the fruit shed. In theory I should have done this last fall and will remember this, come this fall! I’m currently washing the two-inch pots that I have which will be used to plant up the seedlings before they go into the ground. Since we ordered all our seed trays last year, this year’s investment is purchasing more of these two-inch pots, with perhaps another seed try or two thrown in for good measure. One all the pots are washed; I will also wash several larger buckets that will be used to hold water in the shed. We have a water spigot next to the shed, but the previous owner decided to disconnect it (not the wisest decision but what can you do). Eventually we will figure out how to reconnect it, until then we will have to haul water by hand to the shed. Having the extra buckets under the tables should help us not run out of water and make it easier to water our seedlings (the work smarter not harder philosophy again).
After visiting a few other Market Gardens in the area last spring and summer, I also learned that ordering seed starter soil in bulk is an absolute must! So, once I figure out where to get it, I will order that so I have it on hand when planting starts. This should save us a lot of money this year as well as time and energy. Last spring it seemed like every other day I was running to buy more soil and not always the correct soil! My goal is to get the shed set up before planting starts so I can work in one location. This eliminates transferring trays to and from, which will save time, money, and cut down on stress as I’m not relying on good weather in order to complete my work. It could be raining or snowing outside, but I can continue to work planting while inside the insulated fruit shed.
This is the plan to date. I’m sure I will make new discoveries as well as new mistakes but that is all part of the learning process; It is what keeps things interesting!
