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Wednesday 16 May 2012

Sheds for the Garden

With every garden should come a shed. Personally I think in this case bigger is better, as it doesn't take long to fill a shed. As the pictures showed in the squirrel post last week, my shed has a lot of stuff in it. I should have perhaps also taken a picture of the pile of things outside while taking pictures of the cleaned out inside.

My shed is a 6'X8' metal structure and not near as big as I would like it to be. I put a wooden floor in it (makes it easier for the squirrel to access this way) which keeps the contents up off of the ground. It did come with a metal base which I screwed the wood to. With the added weight of the metal base and wood, it is more stable than if it were just the shed alone. I have seen what high winds can do to this type of shed, and it isn't pretty. Mine has been slightly moved by the wind, but never tipped over.

For those of you who don't care for the metal type, by all means build your own. Cost wise it is roughly the same - if I had been wiser I would have built my own instead of buying the one I did. The lumber doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it can be screwed together. There are many types of shed plans available either online or at your local hardware store. In all honesty, I think building a wooden one from scratch would have been simpler than putting together the metal one. If I remember correctly, I had to disassemble it once because I didn't line up the panels for the doors properly. When I moved I took it apart and set it back up again; and it has had wooden doors ever since.

My advice would be to start with a shed no smaller than 8X12 feet; that way there is at least room for a lawnmower, a bench, a toolbox and some floor space. Plus there will be room for the smaller gardening tools and equipment such as an electric hedge trimmer, weed eater, rakes, shovels, hoes, garden hoses, electrical cords and more.

Building a shed with windows lets in natural light which is beneficial if you plan on using it for any type of woodworking or transplanting. If the windows are positioned properly and it is insulated, you can even use it for a sheltered place to harden off bedding plants.

If you don't already have a garden shed perhaps it is time to build one (or for the not so handy person, buy one). Many building centers do have them already built, but keep in mind you will pay for the convenience of having it delivered to your yard. I will be doing my own shed pattern searching and hopefully building one at some point over the summer.

Happy gardening!

1 comment:

  1. Hello,
    Nice blog. Garden shed are the storage of gardening implements such as a lawnmower and tools. Thanks a lot...
    Garden Sheds

    ReplyDelete