Potting Shed Plans - Build Your Own Garden Shed Kit Project Blueprints

The potting shed is the heart of the garden for many gardeners. It provides the location where you will begin planting and seeding in the spring, a place of shelter during the summer and storage during the winter. For many, it is a place of quiet reflection and contemplation, as therapeutic as it is functional.

They can be built from preprepared kits, self-built following your own designs or using downloadable potting shed plans and blueprints, or you can buy them ready made from various online stores and local garden centers. As the name suggests they are typically designed for the cultivation of plants and vegetables, and are set up inside to perform all the general activities this entails such as seeding, repotting, splicing etc. As such, potting sheds are also used to store all the tools, potting mix, plant pots and more which those tasks use.

A potting shed is generally personalized to the user’s preferences and will evolve over time. Typically however, there will be a good wooden potting bench and if you are smart, a sunny sloping PVC or glass window which points towards the sun in the spring months so they can double up as a greenhouse and seed starter as a cold frame later. If it doesn’t then consider attaching a cold frame to the side as you will come to appreciate the proximity of this to your gardening tools and accessories when you start to use it.

Before you even think of making a purchase you should find the right location. You want to consider how much space you have available to allocate to a large garden building and also to consider how the plants and other parts of the garden around it will be affected by this placement as any surrounding plants may now be subjected to periods of shade they never used to have which they might not appreciate.

Traditional wooden potting sheds are the best fit for most people as they are easier to modify and extend when you want to do so. Metal and PVC plastic structures have their advantages too, but when you want to hang extra shelving, add cubby storage nooks, throw on an extension or bang in a few nails and hooks (and you definitely will want to do a lot of these things as time goes on) you will greatly appreciate the versatility of a wooden frame over the alternatives.

Wooden structures are not without their problems of course, there are rarely perfect solutions in the gardening world. You will have to ensure you keep up with yearly maintenance to protect them against the elements. Failure to do so will lead to rotting and splitting boards which will eventually mean you will end up buying a replacement or doing more extensive repairs at a later date. Regular painting and/or the use of weatherproof stains will protect against the general wear and tear caused by the weather and if you leep up with this each year you’ll be able to get many, many years of use out of it. Slack off however, and doing the inevitable repairs later can prove costly.

Wood potting sheds are more aesthetically pleasing and fit in better with most gardening styles compared with the alternatives. Many metal sheds tend to look more functional than pleasing to the eye and may be easily dented and warped. Plastic sheds are hard wearing and durable, totally weatherproof and maintenance free but not so easy to modify and make it your own.

Due to the very individual nature of these types of outdoor buildings, many gardeners prefer to build theirs from scratch using downloadable potting shed plans which can be found online or by using some of the woodworking design books and modifying them to suit their needs.

There are numerous books on how to build your own should you wish to take on such a project and if you have the carpentry skills and desire to take on such an undertaking. You can also find potting shed kits which can be bought ready to build it yourself in your yard.