While there are many things that different gardeners may recommend that you have in your greenhouse, I have recently discovered something I don’t know how I lived without in my greenhouse so I thought I would tell you a little about this little treasure. This is not going to be a sales ad, because you most likely will make this ‘item’ yourself, I can’t say that I have seen it sold anywhere in particular but I have come to realize that it is an important feature in my greenhouse.

This must have for a greenhouse is a potting bench. As simple as it seems I kept telling myself, What do I need that for? I have plenty of shelves in my greenhouse and a potting bench would only take up room. Well, once I actually made a bench I can’t figure out how I lived with out it!

This is a simple design that you can build yourself. Any size that you want, and you can custom fit the height as well for your own space in your greenhouse. The design in similar to a coffee table or a small end table that you might have in your home. just four legs and the outline of a top (this could be square or rectangular as needed to fit your little space). While you are only going to be using this when you are potting, transplanting or working on a certain plant, you can make this potting bench as little or as large as you like.

The four legs are simply 2 x 4’s that you can seal or paint to keep the moisture out. The rectangle or the square frame on top can also be made of the same 2 x 4 materials and painted or sealed as well. Over the center of the top you use chicken wire or hardware cloth that you can buy at your local hardware or home center. Making the wire tight across the top, fold down just a little over the edges so you can nail this wire onto the wooden frame, and then you are done!

I used to have dirt, stones and pots all over my greenhouse. Now when I am transplanting or potting a new plant, I work over my potting bench. Just a tip here, but I made my potting bench about counter high (like in my kitchen) because I didn’t like to bend over for long periods of time. When I am potting new plants, the excess dirt is caught below in my storage container as it falls through the wires! Simple and mess free. I can’t believe I didn’t make one of these earlier – good luck in making yours!

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