Garden And Yard Build The Planting Bench of your dreams

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Light it Up!

Time was, the best light source available for starting seedlings were multibulb 48-inch-long commercial fluorescent fixtures that cost a bundle, weighed a ton and came with no cord or plug; they had to be hard-wired in place. You can get lightweight two-bulb models now for about $20, and four-bulb models for $30, but you still have to install the cord and plug. If you plan to fill the entire lower shelf (or two of them) with seedlings, the investment in large fixtures would be worthwhile; hard-wire in 48" fluorescent fixtures fitted with new fullspectrum fluorescent Gro-Lites—sold in the mail-order garden supply catalogs in packs of six for about $120. Hang yours from small pulleys so you can raise and lower them easily.

I have found over a lot of years' gardening that a combination of ordinary fluorescent and incandescent lights approximates sunlight just as well. For the dozen or so tomato plants I start these days, I use lightsticks and a single 70-watt GE Gro & Show incandescent floodlight. Both come with light plastic frames and a wire to plug into any socket. The fluorescents come in 18", 15-watt and 24" 20-watt models, both with single bulbs, and cost from $10 to $15 apiece. They are lightweight and mount on a couple of screws, so I keep mine mounted under counters in the kitchen, shop, or office most of the year—then transfer them to the planting bench for a few weeks in early spring.

Finally, the hanging—storage capacity of the peg-holed sides and back give your bench an added dimension. But, buy the chromed—steel fittings that hook into the peg-board with their hard-wire backsides bent into little "L's." The plastic ones are cheaper, but they attach with spring pegs that frazzle the peg-board hole, and break easily.

7. Assemble the frame
Turn the sides/front-brace assembly on its feet. It will be wobbly. To steady it, set one 46 1/2-inch-long lower shelf board on lower cleats at rear of cabinet; tack it in place if necessary. Tack a length of 1 x 2 stock across the front of the back legs where they intersect the bench-top so outer edges of rear leg boards are a precise 48" apart.

Apply glue to bottom outer edges of the top-shelf board, to back edges of the 6'-tall rear legs and in 3/4" strips down the inside, long edges of the backboard. Lift the assembled shelf-top/back panel atop the rear legs. Square it up and fasten with 1 1/2" nails (don't drive any in all the way till all are started and structure is square (which may take some finagling). Once fastened, place assembled unit on its back to dry overnight, propping and tacking on cross-braces as needed to eliminate any can't—so all corners are square, all vertical surfaces are plumb.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print