Since we began growing vegetables here I have found it difficult to germinate seeds in our raised beds, especially in the early season. Partly, I believe this is affected by the imported soil, and also by the cool temperatures in spring.

Listing in the Amazon catalog for grow tents caught my eye, for their contained environment. I figured I could put a tent in the garage and get seedlings hardened off quickly enough to beat the cool part of the season.

Some tent gardeners claim to grow vegetables (or cannabis) entirely within a tent, but that didn't interest me.

I chose a small 2'x2'x4' tent from Vivisun, which has space for standard germinating trays, heat mat, exhaust fan and “one plant.”

The tent included an LED grow light, an intelligent hub for managing temperature and humidity. The sensor hub, called a “controller,” connected to my home wi-fi network and allowed viewing and controlling of attached devices locally and even over the web.

Lots of features appealed to me in addition to the ability to manage light and temperature for germinating seeds. Highlights are the LED grow lamp, which can be adjust in the app for color temperature and intensity. Needless all this appealed to the geeky side of my nature.

Control of humidity and temperature improved my ability to harden off seedlings before setting them out in the garden.

Because temperature in the garage often approached freezing I added a temperature and humidity-controoled heater, which also connects with the nerve center.

All the control over the conditions in the tent lulled me into complacency about watering - I had to monitor moisture levels carefully and adjust regularly.