Potting Shed - What do you wish you had added?

Why thank you. I'm so glad I thought of it. The question is (as always), "what do I do with him now that I have him?" [heh heh I make myself laugh]

Ooh, a bright blue could be really pretty, and a nice background for original art. As far as green, I think it would depend on what color of green. I've been seeing lots of very bright limey green lately-that might work. Course, I could just be partial right now because that's what I just painted my computer and project room and so far I really like it, but it is definitely, er, energetic.....

Wow - what a great day you guys ordered. Managed to get a rock wall built while my stump crew finished most of the rest of the area for the shed. Now that I think about it Katie I think I'll skip the green, kiddos have voted for sky blue. We'll see about the hand prints at a later point.

Pixy - I hear you about the current state of affairs, I'd love to see a photo whenever you get to it. I'm not in any hurry as I don't even have the site graded or leveled yet. Building moves next week. Lots to do before I get anywhere near needing inside inspiration. Still collecting goofy materials for outside.

Kids seem to think that the potager needs to be bigger... it's already 30x60, I have no idea who will be doing all this work nor eating all the items they want to grow. I need to figure it out fairly quickly as the garlic will need to go in soon. Not sure when the ground actually freezes here but it sure feels like it will be soon.

Anjl, I've always read to my crew. As they've gotten older they read to each other, kinda nice. We pick a book topic and everyone picks a book. We've been reading scary stories - Older one picked E.A. Poe's The Raven. I thought it was time for a change with her out of town. Spider studies sounded cool, great science lesson opportunity and they fit in well with the decorations..

Hope everyone had a great day.

A nice short one is the "Canterville Ghost" Oscar Wilde. Kids will love it and it is not scary, quite the opposite. Quite short also

A word of caution about blue. In the winter, we see a LOT of grey days. Blue can make people feel, well, Blue, if you get my meaning. If you do a blue, I recommend that it be a warm blue rather than a cool blue. After your first winter here, you'll know just what I mean.

Thanks Sofer, I'll hit the library on Monday and pick it up. We've done that since we arrived as the books are still boxed. Can't seem to find time to get them on a shelf and can't remember what all we have any more.

Blue.... no don't want to feel blue either. Right about now, I'm searching for a 'Carnation' Red to heat things up. Maybe if I paint it bright it will help keep me warm, broke down and stole some of DH wool socks to wear inside. Hot colors will help me feel warmer, then I won't mind the damp, cold. It's very strange, I don't recall being this cold in Michigan.

I might wait and live through the winter first. Paint it after the cold lifts and it's warm enough to paint outside. I don't know that we'll have enough warm days left after it gets finished to have me out painting. Sounds like a good thing.

ladybugg, take my word for it. You'll be colder here than in Michigan, even though our temps are higher. I've never been able to figure that out, but it appears to be true.
In terms of your potting shed, if you're like me you're trying to do it on a budget and then later, you'll be sorry you didn't do things like add electricity and insulate the thing, including the floor. Due to the lack of sunlight in the winter, I spend a great deal of time out in my greenhouse where I have plenty of light. I don't want to freeze my derierre off and have gone through several kinds of heat trying to get the right fit without wasting a lot of energy. If you are considering putting in a clear ceiling, you might consider using twin or triple wall polycarbonate rather than any kind of single pane. It's much more energy efficient and lets in plenty of light. I found a supplier of the 4 x 8 sheets in Tacoma and I was able to buy all of the panels I needed, mostly cut to fit, to reglaze my entire greenhouse for under 400$. It sounds like a lot of money, but considering that I'm leaving the glass intact, then adding this to the inside of the greenhouse and leaving a dead air space between the polycarb and the glass, I'm looking forward to a snug greenhouse this winter with a minimum of energy usage.

I misunderstood the painting. I thought you would be painting the inside. Didn't you say the wood is cedar? Why paint at all? If you want to have color on it, check out the great penetrating stains you can get in just about any color you want. The wood shines through, there is no need to ever repaint unless you just want to, and it goes on easy. Also, cedar has to be sealed really well to take paint without bleeding through.

Just saw this thread, what fun! I envy you being able to build your own shed. We just had a small Tuff Shed put in. We live in a community and have rules about such things. Has to be made of wood, blend with the house, etc. Nice to have rules so things don't get out of hand, but sometimes......... Like I said it's small, 8X12, but it fits with the space and the budget. I had a work bench put across one end, windows south and east and vents on both ends that I can cover if it gets too cold.
Also had bubbles put in the ceiling both ends to provide more light. DH ran an electric line from the garage, so I have a work light over the bench and can plug in a portable heater.

You won't need it with two doors, but I bought a little window fan for hot days. I can also open the windows but some times there isn't any breeze. I put peg boards over the bench, to hang small tools and covered the bench with some vinyl remnants for easy clean up. Mine will be used mainly for repotting orchids, so it's set up a little different. Still have my garbage can of garden soil and will probably still use a board across it. Also have bins for bird seed, rack for large tools, hooks for smaller ones. My favorite thing is my stool on wheels, tall enough to reach the bench and easy to move from one spot to another. Music is a must for me, I have a boom box I use all over outside and since I'm on a corner lot, I don't bother anyone. My neighbors like my music anyway.

Wish list would include.....having a bigger shed and a sink with running water

Forgot to say DH put up some old calendar pictures on the walls (critters of course), plus a clock and temperature/humidity indicater.

This message was edited Oct 25, 2008 10:37 PM

You're so right about staining cedar Pix, when we went to get some for our new deck, we needed help deciding which was best. There are so many different kinds (old wood, new wood,etc) and way too many colors to choose from.

Ladybug, This tread is giving me more ideas to contemplate on, for when I get my GH expanded, was suppose to be this year, but then had all the car troubles and well still at square one. No car and no GH expansion and allot of money down the drain, trying to fix the car. Don't want to go into it. LOL
I start my seedlings in the house in the later part of Feb. Can't do allot at once not enough good room with good lighting. So I have been trying the winter sowing, all new to me. Did good on some not so good on others. Found out some seeds don't go that route. LOL learning....
The seedlings I started in the house, once they Germ I take the trays to the GH. I use a heat floodlight during the nights to keep it a little warm. and has worked well. But this last year as bad as it was I did not even try it.
Plus my GH was full from all the plants I was given from all those DGers that I first met when I joined DG (you know who you are) and the Nov. get together at Heidi's 'Dragonfly Farms'
You could barely walk in to it. plants everywhere.

Pixy, I did mean painting the inside only. I'm not even going to stain the outside as it looks just fine. I like the look of weathered Cedar. I thought about painting the beadboard/pegboard walls to give it some color and keep it light/bright. I hadn't thought about a clear roof - DH said skylights! We had gutter to peak lexan panels in the horse barn in NC over each stall. Let in nice daylight so lights weren't needed most of the time. NC has very few cloudy days though. I was hoping to keep it simple with recycled parts from Craig's List & garage sales. I would love to heat it with propane and insulate it but then it would be like my house and not just a potting shed. We might need to talk about your supplier as I move along through the project.

Sally - I like your shed and the pegboard idea. I will use that for hand tools inside somewhere. I am glad we don't live with HOA rules anymore. They do serve a purpose but I don't like being told what I can/can't do with my little space. Like this arrangement much more.

Tillysrat - I hope that you get your car issues resolved and can start to think about your greenhouse. I haven't tried wintersowing for a long time as it was never cold enough in NC. Might try here as it should work much better. Dgers/PNWers are very generous folks, nice group to be part of.

I don't like being told either, but since the house was next door to mom and it's such a beautiful place, I put up with it.
Plus work on keeping the rules reasonable.

This is the path to our compost area.

Sally, I would love a pic of the bins you have in the shed, Please.
I have bin working on a idea of how to keep my soil in the lean-to next to my GH. and where did you get them? When I do the expansion of the GH I want a area to keep it.
That looks like a long way to the compost bin. LOL

I'll check on the name tomorrow and take a better picture tills. I got mine at a local grocery/everything store. But I had found them on line and they gave the names of stores where you could buy them.

And yes it's a long way to the compost. I have an old golf cart that I use to take the barrels. But I don't mind, cause I watch the squirrels, quail, sometimes deer and of course birds. This is taken from the side of the path.

Oooo to love where you do. My DH would love that, he loves to play in the creek we have,(always moving the rocks around) but so small compared to that, he loves water. He likes the sound of moving water, a natural soothing sound.

Sally, I'd like to take stuff to the compost pile if that was my view. Of course, I don't have a compost pile just yet - gotta work on that item next. I'm going to beg/borrow some horse manure from the barn we're at to get us started since we won't have our own going for about a year.

I'd be interested in your bins as well. Always looking for great ideas.

Our compost is really large, it's used by 99 homes. Not everyone uses it, but most do. We have a handyman who goes out to turn it with a tractor. hahaha Unfortunately it'll be under water when the heavy rains come.

The bins are made by suncast. If you go to www.suncast.com, click on home storage, scroll down til you see the bins, click on it. Down under the picture, click on the box to find a store near you. I had to call a couple before I found them. They stack with or without the lids, depending on what you want. I paid $12.99 a piece for mine.

I like those. I'm looking for something like that to put potting soil in and found some at Lowe's but they didn't seem big enough to hold any quantity of potting soil. I'd like something that is big enough to hold an entire large bag of potting soil, and that I can put up on top of something else so that I don't have to constantly bend over to scoop out the soil. Sad that I have to start thinking about things like that.

I like, I want LOL

Go to a horse tack shop. They have all kinds of grain bins that hold such volumes and often are made out of the heavy duty plastic or rubber.

Not at mine, they never had the stuff I needed to fix the fences, aways out of stock. LOL

Well then come to Montana. They have wherehouses of horse tack. In fact several in my little town. Everyone has a horse or 10.

You don't now how I wish to be there, LOL I drove semi for 2 years coast to coast. and I totally love Montana. I am a horse person, would have love to have the chance to ride the range, do a cattle drive, eat from a chuck wagon pulled by mules, wide open spaces for miles. Oh to dream. I am a country girl, raise in the city but spent my summers on a ranch, so miss it.
Wonder if I could be as good as Auntie Oakley, Funny..LOL

I tried our local feed store sofer, they didn't have any with lids (which I wanted for the bird seed) and didn't have enough anyway. Found some once that would have worked but they were $50, too much for my budget. Now I'm hunting for a metal hand rail for my front deck steps, used to find them everywhere, now I'm having trouble. Time to ask my old friend google.

I would love having horses too, we have a couple of places down the road that have them, I just stop and watch every now and again. Lovely animals.

Now see, Tills? I just knew you were a gypsy at heart!!

Actually, Sofer, I checked out Farmtek on line and got some good ideas. Then I flashed on the obvious: just put the big bag of soil on top of a stand of some kind. It already comes in a container. I can use smaller containers for the stuff I mix myself, like cactus/succulent mixture and the stuff for the carnivorous plants.

Your mind Melissa is too vast to comprehend. Ah the bag. I thought all the female sex had to buy something. Well at least shop.
Tills I rode my motorcycle to the top of the mountain behind my house and hiked around all day. In the afternoon after a nap I met my neighbors up there on their horses. It was a grand day. I laid down between grass tussocks and used one for a pillow. The hawks and ravens were music as I lay there and looked miles in the distance to Glacier Park. Cowboys today still use horses but mostly 4 wheelers, and motorcycles. Chuck wagons are where they all meet at the local restaurant or bar.

Finally!!! I have finally become incomprehensible to a man!! Right on! I actually hate to shop. Unless it is books or plants, or books about plants.

Yes, in my younger days I could never stay in one place, like to be on the go, then I met the man that grounded me, didn't want to do it anymore take roots and stay in one spot.
I hate shopping too, course I work in retail and that's the last place I want to be on my own time. Plant shopping is totally different, Aaa the wonder of plants whether in a meadow or in a nursery, its all about the love of plants.

Steve, I was up in Omak a few years ago, a friend of ours owned 35 acers on a lake and we went on a camping trip up there for the Rodeo.
It is all free range and the horses are herded by cowboys in jeeps. met one he was a very nice Indian, who took are young friend who was with us, with him it visit some of the bars, He must of have some real fun came back to camp with some pink panties. and didn't remember a thing. City kid and a real cowboy. LOL

Have pics but they are from my old 35 mil. camera, some day I will get all my old pic scaned and on CDs.

You made my day, wish I was with you. Loved how you discribed your trip on the bike. My DH misses our bike. We had a Goldwing.

I think that is the most I have ever said. LOL
Sassy and my little creek
Tills

Almost forgot.....
Another neat idea that I use for soil is old coolers, the type you take to the beach or camping. I have 2 so far. a 48 qt. will hold a bag of soil. but I like Sallys. Got to do what you can afford til you can find better.
Tills

Ahh you probably went to Cheesaw, WA. That is the biggest party in the smallest town that I ever went to. Love the big pot belly stove in the bar when I was there in the Fall hunting. Was it Cheesaw?

I didnt buy mine all at once Tilly^_^ Still have my most used soil mix in an old garbage can. Works for mixing.

Not to jump off Ladybug's tread
But I have 2 pics for you steve,
Don't know what bar they went to or where it was, I stayed in camp with my DH.
This is Turtle lake, in the center a little to the left is are camp.It is 10 miles outside of Omak. This was in 1992

And this is a shot, from are camp across the lake. The only thing that live in the lake where turtles, the snapping kind not nice to play with LOL

That looks like a beautiful place to camp Tilly. So peaceful....... except for the turtles.

Thanks Sally,
The turtles weren't that bad, the ant hills where what you really had to be careful of, they where 4' tall or more. I found that out while running form a very mad bee, almost ran into it. it looked like a pyramid to me while I was running. This bee chased me to the camper, I got in the camper slammed the screen door and he beat up against it for I don't know for how long. Scared me, I am highly allergic to them, but have never seen one so aggressive. I have my kit. But The Q is will it work???
To far out to get to a Hospital in time. I never left the motor home till the sun went down. Most horror fiening experience I ever went thru.

The entire area is a beautiful area that was glaciated in the last Ice age. Beautiful Coulies and small lakes everywhere. We should not talk on this thread or we will get yelled at. Thanks Tills.

I'm done, Thanks Steve

I have been reading this thread with great interest - I have a small garage that was built with the house in 1905. Probably for a carriage. I hope to turn it into a gardening shed/painting studio someday. It will probably be a few years but I dream about it!
If your interior walls are smooth enough I would recommend using blackboard paint (comes in green or black) in one area to have a place to jot down notes with chalk. Your Dh can leave you love notes if you spend too much time there.....:)

Portland, would love to see a pic of it.

What a cool idea!!