Anyone who loves to garden knows how frustrating it can be to try and use the kitchen sink, garage, or laundy room for their gardening needs. There's always more garden tools accumulating, new seedlings to sprout, transplanting, bulb storage and so much more. So much more in fact, that many gardeners never have enough room to do everything they want to do.



And that's why all gardeners should have their own potting sheds. Potting sheds are a wonderful place to just "get away" from the world. It's a place specially reserved to hold all your gardening tools, supplies, dreams and ideas. For some it's even a place to sit and quietly enjoy the serenity too.

Potting sheds can be so much more than that too. There are actually potting sheds that are designed to look like small cottages or cabins, and some have built in greenhouse areas that are wonderful for sprouting small seeds too.

Almost any kind of shed can be used as a potting shed though. In some cases, a standard outdoor storage shed which houses the family bicycles, lawn mowers and trimmers, pool toys and equipment and so on can also be used as a potting shed by avid gardeners if it's big enough. It may take a little bit of forethought and planning to make it as useful as possible, but it's easily done and well worth the time and effort.

If you're not able to build your own private potting shed but you already have a storage shed of some kind outside, see if you can rearrange the stuff stored in that shed to make room for your own little potting shed area. Move all tools, toys and equipment to one side, then install a potting bench on the other side for your gardening needs. If your shed has a window in it, try to have that side be the primary potting shed area.

If you're able to have your very own space for a potting shed though, you'll be much happier. With your own space, you'll have much more room for all of the gardening equipment that accumulates over time. You can hand larger tools on the wall for instance, and put smaller hand tools in a ceramic or clay pot that sits on a shelf.

You might consider adding plastic bins to store your extra potting soil and mulch in, and you can even use one to store spring and fall bulbs as needed.

Having at least one area of your potting shed with plenty of light coming in is almost essential to any good potting shed too. This way, you're able to easily start seeds or grow small starter plants a little larger before it's time to place them outside. They'll have plenty of sun, and often you're able to start them a little before planting season because they're inside protected from the elements.

These are just a few of the features a nice potting shed should have. There are of course many additional options that one gardener might want or need, depending on how large their particular gardens are. If a gardener you love doesn't yet have their own potting shed though, you should seriously consider getting them one as a gift. They'll truly treasure it for life!