House & Garden Projects

Seed-Starting Stand with Lights: March 2003

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This year I decided to start some of annuals, and maybe a few perennials, from seed. So all I needed to do was get a rack with lights and a timer, some seed trays and pots, seed starting soil, and seeds. That's all! I looked at a lot of the lighted racks available, and ended up deciding to build one myself. Sounds simple enough, right?

I found a plan that I felt I could tackle. I'm following the basic plan of a tiered growing stand from the Fine Gardening Magazine website. I found the link in a forum discussion on GardenWeb.com. Then, I procrastinated for a while. I bought some seeds, trays and soilless seed starting mixture, hoping that would get me going. I procrastinated some more. Finally, it was coming up on the last week of March. I need to get the seeds started by April 1st in order to give them the 6 to 8 weeks of growing time before transplanting them around the first of June.

The last Wednesday of March, I bought the wood and the shop lights. (It's not urgent yet; there's still time to procrastinate some more!) Thursday I cut the wood to length, and started assembling the sections. (OK, I got started. And the glue needs to set up, doesn't it. Time enough to finish it tomorrow.) Friday, I finally put it all together. Then back to Home Depot because I had forgotten to get a power strip, heavy-duty extension cord and heavy-duty timer.

The only thing left to do is prep the soil mix, fill the peat pots, plant the seeds, water the trays, cover them with plastic .... (Maybe tonight? Or tomorrow??)

Construction photos, comments & tips begin on next page.

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