I call it "The Green Room"

[ContainerTed]

For most of us, having a warm place to germinate seeds and get the little plants going is a hard thing to come by. Most of our DW's don't like the idea of having stinky wet dirt inside the main house. Some are very tolerant of "SOME" invasion on a yearly basis, but it still isn't on their lists of favorite things.

I wanted some way of having a heated area to start seeds in the cold months of late winter and early spring. I also wanted to be able to do the seedling "cool down" after the seeds germinate. Our house is smaller than the one we were in down in Georgia, so something had to give. Last year I used my 4 shelf wire rack with a plastic shroud and moving blankets and barely got the job done. Changes had to be made or I was going to scream. So, I decided to create a "room" in the garage. I wanted it to be cooler at the bottom than at the top so I could do the "cool down" of the seedlings by just germinating on the top shelves and moving them to lower shelves as they grew.

Here's what I came up with out in the garage. It's only 66 inches square and as tall as the floor to ceiling measurements. As you can see in the pictures, it works pretty well. I ran power in on its own 20 AMP breaker (ground fault type). It's still in rough-in condition because I may take it down and build a larger one on the other side of the garage. But, this one will get me thru this spring planting.

The little heater is set for 62 and is at its lowest heat setting. On average, the temperature has been very stable with a avg reading of 62 at the floor level and 73 on top shelf. I have two timers so that I can limit the top shelf on how much light it gets and not disturb the temperature.

I still have a thermostat controlled exhaust fan to add and some insulation and interior wall boards. I also intend to add a fan that will rustle the little seedling leaves a bit.

I built it as a freestanding unit that is simply placed against one wall. It ain't nailed into the walls, ceiling, or floor. I can even imagine it as portable, allowing for disassembly while not in use. I have some room on the framing inside to hang a few things like seeds and gloves.

Anyhow, it's an idea that is proving to be a great place to start seeds or possibly to winter a plant or two.

Again, for the "real carpenters", this is a prototype and definitely a work in progress. It is, however, a functional work in progress.

Enjoy the pictures.

Ted