For the majority of the year, your Christmas lights sit in storage. Instead of letting them lay around unused, create a DIY heat-controlled indoor vegetable garden with just plywood and rope lights.
The cold winter months before spring rolls around tend to be gloomy and gray, so why not add a little bit of greenery to your home, while also cultivating your own fresh produce? The instructions are so simple, even an inexperienced crafter could make this. Check out our abridged version of this tutorial below.
Here’s the finished product. Let’s check out how it’s made.
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First you’ll need some plywood – one full board and four strips of wood, to be exact.
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Nail the strips to the plywood board, they will act as the frame for the rope lights.
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Grab your rope lights and get ready to string them onto the board.
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Starting at the bottom right corner of the plywood board, wrap your rope lights through the planks.
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Attach the lights to the board using plastic cable clamps.
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Here’s what it should look like when it’s finished.
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Plug it in and watch it light up! You can now put your seedlings on top of the planks.
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(source Vegetable Gardener)
For the full tutorial, head here. This heat mat is great if you want to grow veggies like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, that grow better in warm soil. Instead of just sitting around, counting the days until summer, spend your free time indoors growing a garden!
