What Is a Potting Bench? (And Why You Need One In Your Garden)

If you’ve been looking for ways to make gardening more practical this spring, we’ve got you covered. Not only can you add to your garden’s aesthetic with a sleek potting bench, but it will also make gardening much easier.

Below, we break down all the best reasons why you need to add a potting bench to your gardening routine.

What Is a Potting Bench?

A potting bench is essentially a garden workbench that doubles as storage for all your tools, pots, and seeds. The bench itself isn’t a sitting area, but rather a workbench—this will be the area you’ll use to start seedlings or pot your plants, for example.

A potting bench is useful for anyone who loves gardening but doesn’t love long hours of straining their back and neck to hunch over ground-level potted plants. It also helps keep any mess contained to a small, easy-to-clean tabletop.

Reasons Why You Need a Potting Bench

Another reason you should be adding a potting bench to your garden this spring is so you can keep your garden organized. If you don’t have a great place to keep your tools or keep misplacing those soil mixes you need, a potting bench is the perfect place to store everything you need in one spot. 

Typically, potting benches will come with several storage options. Shelves below the workbench are large enough to house big pots and bags of soil. Drawers can help to keep smaller tools and gardening gloves organized. You might even look for a potting bench with a trellis for growing or drying flowers, an above-table shelf for keeping plants, or a suspended storage rack for easy-access gardening tools. 

Most potting benches will be made of natural wood, sometimes with a metal workbench top to make cleaning even easier. Fortunately, this still leaves you with plenty of options when it comes to matching your potting bench to your garden.

Ideally, your potting bench will even have a sink with running water so that you can scrub off all your fresh-picked produce before you even bring it inside. Plus, this way you can give your tools (and your hands) a good wash as needed without tracking dirt into your kitchen. Alternatively, you can opt for a potting bench with a washbasin and fill it yourself.

Potting Bench Costs

You can find various potting bench options online—prices average about $100, with varying levels of storage, shelving, and sinks included. If you’re not looking for a washing-up area, you can always cobble together your own potting bench by combining a small, high table or desk with shelving units underneath it. 

How to Decorate a Potting Bench

Don’t be shy when it comes to decorating your potting bench, either—dried flowers, potted plants, and fresh-cut flowers can all be beautiful options for incorporating your potting bench into the overall look of your garden. Matching a few potted plants on the top of the workbench to nearby garden beds, for example, will make your garden look cohesive while still providing you with practical storage.

Read Next: 10 Free Potting Bench Plans

Read the original article on The Spruce.