I sure seem to write alot about things I build! Honestly, I don't spend all my time just creating new stuff; I just happen to have several projects recently that might interest folks on this blog.

Anyway, here's my seedling stand I built as part of our Square Foot Garden. We needed a place that would help to sprout seeds and grow transplants until the danger of frost is past.

I used three strips of 11" x 48" plywood for the shelves. Use 1/2" thick plywood, instead of something thinner like I did, and it will be more stable.

I cut four 45" lengths of 1x3. At first, I though I would place the four legs at the very ends of the stand, but that looked like the shelves would sag a great deal in the middle.

Eyelet hooks hold the chains that lower the lights. This is very convienent right now, as the sprouted seeds need the lights to be lowered close down to them. I have two flourescent plant/aquarium lights per shelf for a total of four lights.

I put a couple of diagonal reinforcing strips of thin wood on the backs and side. Be careful not to put the reinforcing strips on until you see exactly where you seed flats, lights, ect are going to go so as not to interfere with them.

With these dimensions, you can place two seed flats on each shelf, and two shelves. I bought a couple of seedling heater pads from Park Seeds, the kind that keep the bottom temp 10 - 20 degrees about the air temp and they have helped a great deal with germinating.

In the photo, I've got one seed flat, plus several of my houseplants that seem more picky about the cold weather. The middle shelf has the heating pads, and the bottom is just the lights without extra heat. I was surprised how quickly I got the first round of Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower started with bottom heat!