A gardener without a potting shed is almost alike a gardener without a hoe. A potting shed is a must if you take your gardening seriously and if you need a storage area for your many pots and bags of soil and other gardening paraphernalia. A potting shed can be a small 6 by 8 foot area tucked away in a far corner of a garden or it can be an extension of your garage, a covered portion of a patio, or whatever. It can also be a larger and sturdier area that is a combination green house and potting area.

It all depends on your needs. I cannot imagine a better gardening arrangement than this: Your garden is incorporated into your overall landscaping area where you are continuously involved in thinning your perennials, starting new plants by rooting in sand or some other lightweight growing medium, thus necessitating the need for an innovative, but functional, combination potting shed and greenhouse.

The location of this potting shed will be critical. It will need to have sunlight as well as shade and a means of blocking out extreme heat as well as a means of heat during the winter. Also it can become an ideal storage place for those house plants that are in the process of recuperating from some disaster; or possibly you may want to keep them over until summer where they will adorn your patio.

The question now is not whether you need a potting shed, but what kind of potting shed you need, where you will build it, how it will be constructed and how much it will cost. Let's start from the ultra down to the absolute least type of potting shed: For a shed that will blend in with your landscaped area and your extensive garden you will need to have a blueprint and a permit to build and lots of money. If you can afford the kind of garden this type of potting shed belongs to, then you can afford it, otherwise go with only the absolute least amount you will need.

For a moderate, no frills kind of potting shed you could probably use one of these prefabricated sheds where lawnmowers and other outside equipment are kept. The ones I have seen seem to be too closed in but I suppose they could be rigged with extra lighting and whatever else is needed for a potting shed.

It may be cheaper however, if you already have no need of further storage problems and want only a covered area for starting new plants, a makeshift little construction that you can cover with plastic will suit your purpose. It will depend on your area and whether or not a little unsightly clutter will cause your neighbors to complain and your wife to panic. of courese, the final word will depend on where you live, how extensive is your gardening area, and how important is gardening to your overall contentment.

If you have only a few house plants you putter around with each season then why bother with a shed. Hide the few extra pots in your tool shed or hide them under the back porch or patio steps.