How To Set Up An Indoor Garden, Part One
Patti, the Garden Girl, shows you how to build your own seed starting system. This system would cost twice as much to buy already made. It is simple and very effective.
Step 1: Stet up an indoor garden.
Its winter here in New England and there’s not much I can do outside, but what I can do is set up my indoor garden. I’m going to start off by demonstrating what can be done in just six linier feet of space. The perfect place to do that is in my sun porch.
Step 2: Measure and clear space.
I’m here in the sun porch. I’ve taken all the measurements and the space I’m transforming is six feet by fourteen feet. I’ve laid out the porch on graph paper and placed where I want all of my shelves and my planters to be. Now all I have to do is clear the space and get started.
Step 3: Prepare your garden area.
Today I’m going to begin setting up my indoor garden. I’m really excited, I’m going to take a couple of pieces that were already here and I’m just going to clean them up and restore them. I’m going to strip this laminate off, this is a table that I’m going to use as a base for my shelves.
I’m going to take these chairs and sand them down and shellac them. I’m using shellac because shellac is an all-natural product. It’s a natural polymer so basically it’s a natural plastic. You do want to use it in a very well ventilated area. So it is best to even use it outside if weather permits.
Step 4: Add customizations.
This table and chairs look great, its not fine furniture but I’ve extended the life of them for a very good purpose. While the shellac on the table and chairs dried I assembled this inexpensive, off the rack shelving unit. These shelves are made of solid wood and are surprisingly strong. They’re perfect for me to customize.
Step 5: Add lighting.
I’ve placed the shelving unit on this table so that more of the shelves could receive natural sunlight. They’re going to be carrying a lot of weight so I fastened the shelving unit to the table for extra support. Next I’m going to install my fluorescent tubes.
To get my seedlings off to a good start I’m using fluorescent tubes that are balanced for plants. These tubes have a color balance that is the same as natural daylight. Buy the tubes that are 5,000 caliber. Fluorescent tubes also use 75% less energy than normal incandescent bulbs. I’m also using a timer to control when the lights come on and off automatically.
Step 6: Save Money.
Before I continue and expand my indoor garden I just want to get a running total of how much I’ve spent on six linier feet so far. The shelves were $30.00, the lights were $16.00 and the flow tubes were $40.00. Add the miscellaneous expenses, which brings us to $169.00. That’s less than half of what you would spend if you bought an all in one indoor garden kit.
I’m Patti Moreno, the garden girl for farmersalmanactv.com. Thanks for watching.
