How to Make a Garden Potting Bench

Overview

A potting bench is more than just a place to put petunias and impatiens in to terra-cotta containers. A potting bench helps gardeners to keep their container gardening tools, spare pottery, plant food, fertilizer and potting soil in one location. Typical potting benches are built so that the surface is comfortable for a gardener to work without having to bend. A potting bench can help save stress and strain on a gardener's back. This particular plan is for a 'legless' potting bench that will rest directly on a pile of potting soil or a pair of saw horses.

Step 1

Measure and cut a 16-inch-wide strip of plywood crosswise from the sheet. (The strip should be 16 inches wide by 48 inches long.)

Step 2

Draw a diagonal line across the 16-inch piece of plywood.

Step 3

Cut along the diagonal to make two triangular pieces.

Step 4

Measure 24 inches from the right angle of the triangles along the longer edge.

Step 5

Use the carpenter's triangle tool to draw a line from this point straight up, sectioning off the pointed ends of the triangles.

Step 6

Cut the pointed end off of each triangle along the line you just drew. Discard this scrap.

Step 7

Measure 16 inches in from the long side of the larger piece of plywood. Draw a line lengthwise along the board.

Step 8

Cut along this line to create a strip that is 16 inches wide and 80 inches long. The other piece will measure 32 inches by 80 inches. One of these will be the back of the potting bench, and the other board will be the top of the bench.

Step 9

Arrange these two pieces so that their edges touch and they are 90 degrees from one another. Mark where you will install 5 brackets to hold these two pieces together.

Step 10

Drill holes for the bolts.

Step 11

Bolt each side of the angle brackets to the wood pieces.

Step 12

Drill holes in the triangular sides and top of the bench. Install sides with brackets and bolts.