The Nursery

We dabble in daylily breeding, so we are regularly making more plants that we need to find home for.  Last year we stated our first seeds.  They spent the summer in the stock tanks near the patio, but we knew we would need a new spot for their second year.  This new spot needed to be easy to maintain, easy to evaluate the seedlings, and safe from running dogs.  We decided to create a fenced in "seedling yard" in front of our shed.  We installed the fence earlier this summer and finally got a chance to create the some of the planters.

We decided to use pallets to create raised beds for our seedlings.  They would be easy to weed and we would be able to sue whatever type of soil we wanted.  Also, we both can get pallets free from our workplaces.  These can from the "true plant geek's" workplace.  We liked the bright blue and they fit perfectly in the space.

First we cut our holes in the pallets so we have a place to plant our seedlings.

Then we stapled down landscape fabric to the bottom and sides of each pallet to hold in the soil.  We reinforced it with wood to keep the sides from building.  This step isn't really necessary, but we thought it would help our planters last longer.

Finally we placed them in the garden, filled them with soil, and planted our seedlings.  They all fit on this side of the garden.  We have eight more planters to make for future seedlings on the other side of the shed path.  Next year all of these seedlings should bloom and we will finally see what they look like.  The special ones will be kept and the other will either be composted or given away.  The ones we keep will be evaluated for a few years to see what the plant actually does (because a pretty flower isn't worth anything is the plants is weak) and register anything that performs well.

I can't wait to see them bloom!