by John Ledbury

Created on: January 27, 2010   Last Updated: February 04, 2011

For the gardener, a potting shed is the icing on the cake.  They can be in many styles and the one you choose may depend on your needs. There are many other uses a potting shed can have. First we must consider what we need, when planning a potting shed. Of course, a potting shed doesn't have to be inside a shed structure, it can be anywhere.  In between two shed,s or in a corner. The main components are the facilities for potting up.

The shed size we have chosen here, is 6' x 4', but you may find that you can manage equally well with a smaller shed, or maybe you will go for a larger model. It is down to what you think is best for you. The principles are the same. We will be working in the shed, when no doubt there will be some heavy overcast days, and probably some wet days as well, so plenty of light inside is important.

It will be the inclement days when we are unable to get out in the garden, so we will want to go into the potting shed, and get some plant labels written out ready for use in the garden, or for our containers. it is a good idea to keep a small diary, we can then record what we have done, as we go along. Having the true facts available will be invaluable if we have to investigate a seed failure, if the seeds we have sown into trays have not germinated. Armed with the facts, we may be able to claim against our seed supplier.

On one side of our shed, we have 3 glass windows, although one window may be sufficient if our shed is facing south to south west. As you can imagine, it is better to have the windows directly in front of our main work place. So it is on the window side, that we plan our worktop. It is from here that we will be filling our plant pots and containers with compost and any additives like sand and feed. It will need to be strong and solid to withstand any rough treatment we may give it. Obviously, we wont set out to be heavy handed as we work, but experience tells me that as the day goes on, compost does seem to get heavier. (It is not because some of us, myself included, may get a trifle tired, as the day goes on !)

My thoughts for what we will need in our potting shed, which you will be able to adapt to your own requirements, are these. As mentioned earlier, we will need a good solid work top. The height of the worktop will depend on where you will feel most comfortable with it. When the height is decided, we will need to put legs to it. Something like 3" square, should be ample. Ideally, it would be best for

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