House & Garden Projects

Seed-Starting Stand with Lights: March 2003

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The first thing to do is pick a plan. There are a few plans on the internet, and more are available in gardening "project" books. Or draw your own. But in any case you need a plan first, because that determines how much wood you need and how you need to cut it. I used a plan I found through a forum discussion on GardenWeb.com. This plan gives you an "exploded view" of what the shelf will look like, and a "parts list" telling you how many and what lengths of wood you need. I printed out the plan, and wrote down the modifications I wanted to make (I made the length a little shorter, so I needed to remember to cut some of the pieces shorter).

TIP When you buy your wood, take the time to pick out the straightest pieces you can find. I "little" curl or bow may not seem like much, but it can make a big difference when you go to put the shelf together!

Cut all your wood pieces at the same time. A table saw and/or a miter saw come in really handy here. Remember the cardinal rule of shop: Measure twice, cut once! I cut one piece of each length first, then used that one to mark the cuts for all the pieces of that same length. Making square cuts is really important. Again, it may not seem like much, but it can make your whole shelf askew if your cuts are on an angle. Trust me on this! I assumed my chop saw was squared up -- it wasn't. I was able to compenate for the slight angle, but assembly would have been much easier if I had checked the saw first!

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