Benefits of a Potting Shed
In variations ranging from a small shack to a semi-greenhouse, a potting shed is the ultimate gardening necessity. Not only does it provide essential storage and organization, but a potting shed adds character to your yard and lends inspiration to your garden plans. Whether it serves a modest yard or an extravagant garden, a potting shed will be the nucleus to your outdoor activities. Consider these benefits:
Organisation
Up keep of a yard and garden requires miscellaneous materials that often end up scattered in basements, garages, patios, and throughout the yard. A potting shed can consolidate some or all of these materials including hand tools, shovels, rakes, gardening gloves, stakes, twine, tomato and peony cages, hoses, sprinklers, couplings, fence posts, chicken wire, etc. With thoughtful planning, you may be able to store far more materials and have easier accessibility than you ever thought possible. If the shed is large enough or if you do minimal gardening, take advantage of the space to store your snow shovels, leaf rakes, weed wackers, leaf blowers, and even your summer grill.
Saves time and money
With a place for everything and a good excuse to put everything in its place, you will spend less time searching for essential gardening items and less money replacing them. Proper storage also prolongs the life of expensive tools and equipment.
Easy repotting
A potting bench takes stress off your back and makes repotting, soil mixing, and propagation much more enjoyable. The space underneath the bench is ideal storage for empty pots and soil materials. Tip: keep soil materials in small, covered trash cans to discourage mice and other small critters. (Also works great for birdseed.) If you have a few windows, take advantage of the protected sunlight to start your seeds early in spring.
Storage of plant material
Need a place to dry your herbs and flowers? For over-wintering bulbs and tender perennials? Sorting and saving seeds? Pressing flowers? A potting shed can be the ideal space.
Keeps garden dirt out of your home
A well-placed potting shed will encourage you store your gardening/yardwork clothes, shoes, and gloves in your potting shed rather than in your home. You can also duck quickly inside to avoid passing showers. Heat and plumbing open valuable new possibilities for cleaning and freshening up your hands, body, and gardening tools.
Inspires gardening ideas
A potting shed can be a romantic place for dreaming up your garden. Set up a table, stock up on drawing paper and tools, and you are ready for winter or rainy day dreaming. Because you are close to your garden and immersed in nature, your ideas will likely flow quicker and clearer. Start a gardening notebook to keep detailed records of all your planting dates, garden varieties, maintenance, pests, problems, and treatments. Add some shelves and some good reference books including pest and weed identification materials. Keep a hand lens nearby to encourage learning about the different pests afflicting your garden. Hang gardening posters or artwork on your walls, baskets on your ceiling for easy harvesting, and be sure to leave a space for drying and pressing plants. Plant flowers and herbs around the outside of your shed and consider building a path to make your potting shed a warm and inviting space.
Every gardener and homeowner needs a potting shed to connect form and function in their yard. An extravagant structure with windows, plumbing, and heat may be your dream, but you do not necessarily have to make a large purchase to enjoy the intended benefits. There are so many designs available to suit your specific needs. You may well already have a base with which to start. With only a minimal investment of time and money, you can easily convert that unused shed to create a functional and aesthetic potting shed that will enhance your garden and gardening pleasure.
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