We have an unheated enclosed porch at the back of our house and I use this area to start seeds in March and early April. Well, to be completely honest, some seeds get started indoors in late February or early March and then as the weather begins to warm by the end of March and early April I often end up with most of my seedlings in the back porch area where I have one of those small three shelved plastic covered green houses.
The room is on the South side of the house and it gets a lot of sunlight through the windows and uhm corrugated green plastic ceiling (how classy!) from early morning to mid-afternoon or so. In the summer we can’t go in this room unless the window is open as it just gets too hot. In the winter the back porch is reasonably comfortable in the day time even in January or February. So This is a good place to grow plants for the garden.
I am thinking of getting some blinds for the windows in the back porch because I think they might help deflect a little bit of the sunlight and consequently the heat that builds up in the room. of course, there’s that corrugated green plastic roof that covers the back porch. It lets a lot of light in as well. Oh and the cold of winter, and heat of summer.
The back porch has wood paneling- dark wood paneling and I’ve been thinking of white washing the wood so the room will be bright. I wouldn’t actually use white on the walls though but a very pale green/white wash. So I’m trying to decide if I should get natural wood or bamboo blinds or the regular metallic kind. I guess I have a few months to think about this because I’m certainly not going to be doing anything else out there this year.
Where do you grow your seedlings? Do you start them indoors under grow lights?
I grow my seeds in my sunroom, which is heated and stays about the same temperature as the house most of the year. Unfortunately it faces north, east & west so I always feel like it isn’t quite bright enough. But not having a south facing window probably keeps it cooler in the summer.