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Potting bench design

Richard168Richard168 Posts: 115
in Tools and techniques
i am planning on building a new potting bench and I wondered what design features you would suggest I try to incorporate.

If you have a particularly good potting bench I would appreciate any photos

thanks 
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Posts

  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    My potting bench is the greenhouse floor - and two buckets - one to mix my potting compost up and one to sit on! So I cannot give you any design tips!! If I am pricking out, bucket no. 3 comes into play to act as a table for the seed tray!
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I think Hogweed's design is guaranteed backache, although I have also used it when space is tight. Key issues are height - backache again - and light, so you can see what you are doing. I use a simple plastic tray with a higher back  to keep in the compost on my greenhouse staging. They can be bought anywhere for a few pounds and I find it works well for ordinary domestic use. It wouldn't do for large scale projects.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Mine’s made of dexion frame with a heavy piece of worktop on it, then I bought 2 grow bag trays, the smooth ones that it on just perfect. Nothing fancy. But with dexion you can adjust the height to suit, me being a bit of a short ar*e😀
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited December 2018
    I have a lightweight metal jobby that came with a 2nd greenhouse I bought in Belgium.  It has a shelf underneath and a surround on 3 sides to hold compost in place.   However, I find it a bit restrictive so tend to pile in a load of potting compost and fill the pots I'll be using then put them on an old wooden table and, depending on my back, sit or stand at that to sow seeds/pick out seedlings/pot up cuttings/pot on seedlings and divisions.   

    The advantage of the table is having the space for trays and writing labels.  Any unused compost gets scooped up into a plastic trug or covered with an empty compost bag to stop it drying out completely before the next session.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I use an old plastic garden table which is about the right height for me (I'm also very short) with a purpose bought green plastic potting tray on top, which has 3 high sides and a detachable shelf with compartments to hold pots, labels & hand tools. I tend though to turn it upside down when I've finished using it because it fills up with rain water. On one side of the table is a bag of compost on a large breezeblock so I don't have to keep bending down and on the other, which is next to our logstore (made out of old pallets, are hooks for hanging a scoop, brush, hand trowel and small watering can.  If you go online and search for "TwoWests", they have a good selection of various potting benches, including one with an integral compost storage bin with sliding mesh cover, which looks just the business. 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Mine is an old type school woodwork bench. Good height for standing at but impossible to sit at. I'd say height is the most important consideration if you're spending much time working on it


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    Not a bench but a tray. I have one of these trays and it does what I need.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Large-Plastic-Potting-Garden-Greenhouse/dp/B075WC7HDX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1544373100&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=potting+tray&psc=1

    I sit it on my greenhouse benching then bung it in the shed when not needed.

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I agree that it's not so much the "design" , but height which is critical. 
    I worked in a garden which had a large greenhouse and on the staging was one of the trays like that in @kili 's post. 
    The owner had it on an upside down wooden fruit box and then , presumably as the height wasn't quite right, a layer of coffee jar lids. 
    Too low and you have to stoop which hurts your back, too high and it'll hurt your neck and shoulders. 
    Well worth spending some time to get it just right .
    Devon.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I have one of those plastic potting trays (a simple version without the detachable shelf).  I put it on top of the green bin or compost bin if I want to stand, or on a folding table if I want to sit down.  My teeny shed is too full of stuff for me to actually work in there!!
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Jason millyJason milly Posts: 546
    I made mine out of some pallets I got with a DIY delivery easy to knock up  
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