Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A place for potting

Last year for Christmas my parents-in-law gave me an unusual gift: a mixing bowl.  I feigned gratitude until I opened my next gift: a box of bolts.  My mother-in-law was snickering, telling me that they went together.  Okay...

Next gift? Directions for building a potting bench!  Ah, now it makes sense.  My father-in-law told me he had bought the lumber and would deliver it to my house shortly.  They explained that the mixing bowl was for mixing my various soil ingredients and that I could cut a hole in the table top (if I wished) to hold the bowl recessed from the surface.

potting_bench
Completed potting bench
So, for the last 6 months or so I've had some really nice lumber piled up on the side of the house, and our picnic table has been covered in my plants so Christie hasn't been able to enjoy her lunch breaks outside like she likes to do.  I had a free weekend a couple of weeks ago, so I pulled out the circular saw and went to work.  Just a couple of hours into it, I had something resembling the components of a bunk bed.  Another day of work and I had a very nice looking potting bench!

top_shelf
Top shelf of the potting bench
It fits very nicely along the wall of my greenhouse, right next to the door.  It also fits nicely under the eave of the house, where it gets a little more protection from the elements.

Now I have it loaded down with plants, leaving just enough room for repotting a plant or two on the work surface.  The lower shelf holds my bags of potting soil and extra pots.

I plan to stain it soon to protect the wood from long-term weathering.

What do you think!?!

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I love it! What a clever and wonderful gift. I know you will really enjoy it and use it often. Good job on building it, and even though it was not planned...you have a chewed up finger from the saw to show the little one for a great story on building the potting bench. :-)

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  2. You should be proud!And I am sure of the pleasure you will have using it,this an inspiration to clean and organize mine which was a gift from my children on Mother's Day m
    any years ago.I sealed the wood with Tung Oil.Enjoy it!Laura

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  3. Love it! And my thought is that you may not need to drill a hole to hold a mixing bowl. Your project will look terrific with a natural or a red stain!

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