Last summer I visited Bruce Cannon’s fabulous garden. His potting bench is one of the elements that impressed me. He took an old stainless steel sink and built his potting bench around it in the shade. The faucet does work, but the water just drains out onto the ground. Yesterday I was talking to my friend Bob who is one of our town’s volunteer fire fighters. Last fall the fire department held a practice and burned down an old house, but before they set the blaze my friend removed the old porcelaine kitchen sink. The sink is large and deep and is slated for a potting bench in his garden.
I now have a wonderful garden shed where I can keep all my garden pots, stakes, tools, soil amendments and what nots separate from my husband’s tools and what nots. I even have a useful potting shelf, but there is no running water in the shed. Water is useful near a potting bench because you can use it for washing pots, dampening potting soil, and washing up after a potting session.
Do you have a potting bench? Where is it located? What special features does it have that you really like? Do you have improvements you long for? I’d love to hear about your potting bench – real or dreamed of.
That is a cool potting bench and no, I haven’t one, but love this idea.
I have a potting bench but no running water. I too, dream of something like your friend’s. The only advantage that mine has is it’s sheltered (indoors) so I can pot up during inclement weather and there’s a light fixture right above it.
My hubby made me a potting bench using old pallets. Since it’s homemade, he was able to make it taller for me, (I’m pretty darn tall.) It doesn’t have running water, but it’s near the faucet. We are going to build a new garden shed near my big flower bed (now I use the “barn” to store my garden supplies.) When that is done, I will move my potting bench beside the shed. Prior to having a potting bench, I used the tailgate of the truck. It actually worked pretty good!
Gail – I was really impressed with that bench. Bruce has great irrigation and a musical pond in his garden.
Jean – I can pot things up in my shed, and the potting shelf is right next to the single window but there is no electricity.
Christy – Tailgates are very useful. I have a friend who put her potting bench on the north wall of her ‘barn’. It kept her in the shade. Very efficient.
We used to have a potting bench with an old cast iron sink – rectangular, deep, rusty as could be, and with a faucet (cold water only) and a drain (directly to the ground below). We weren’t gardeners, but it was enormously useful for cleaning almost anything – especially muddy dachshunds. Except when they were scooped up to be rinsed off, the dogs avoided the sink, casting sidelong glances at it as they grazed the lawn. An outdoor sink, like an outdoor shower, is convenient and easy to contrive.
Oh that is lovely, how i wish i can also get a sink still that nice. It might also do well for our dirty kitchen doubling as potting bench, haha!