I set mine up in my kitchen in an area that I am not using very much, but you can set them up in a spare room or a garage if you live in a climate that doesn’t freeze.
I prefer to use metal shelving because it’s sturdy and easy to clean and provides great air circulation. It also has wheels on the bottom so you can move it around easily. The lights that I purchased here have a nice feature where they connect in a series. I also recommend a timer. It made my life so much easier not having to turn them on and off.
The first year that I started my plants indoors was so much fun. Once they were big enough to start hardening off I transport them to their permanent location and set them up outside for a part of the day and bring them inside at night for a 2 days, then after that they stay out all day and all night out of direct sunlight and kept them well watered. Day 4 or 5 I plant them in their permanent spots in the garden. I know that I could probably extend the process but I get very impatient when it comes to getting things planted outside.
When delivering them to the garden and transporting them in my vehicle, I use large clear plastic tubs that allow sunlight to shine through and recycle old cardboard boxes to keep them contained. They are also great for keeping them outdoors for those few days which protects them from the wind and other elements. It gets very windy in our climate here and you will see lots of seed pods from the tres that landed in the cups and all over the ground while I was hardening them off that year.
I do use paper cups sometimes as I feel it allows my plants to get a little bigger and easier to handle than the tiny seed trays, plus when setting them outside to harden off I think they get dried up too quickly in tiny black trays. I like that I can also write on each of the cups as well. Since I live in a tiny apartment I don’t have room for a lot of large containers so the cups work very well for me.
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