Are you an aspired gardener? Speaking of gardening, the images occurring in your mind may be like a vibrant and organized yard full of flourishing green leaves, colorful blossoms, fresh fruits and fragrant herbs, as well as the rewarding joy of wandering around your garden while admiring your fresh plants. However, the truth is that these are only the heads of the coin. The tails usually come with a messy of tools and soreness in the back, knees and shoulders after a long-time bending down for endless trifles. Since a perfect garden cannot leave daily maintenance. You have to spend plenty of time on potting, re-potting, trimming and weeding.
The good news is that the potting bench ultimate solution can save you from the head-scratching gardening ache and return the pure joy of growing plants to you. Garden working benches are specifically designed for gardeners both amateur and professional.
This post looks at the aspects you need to look for in the right potting bench for your garden. If you are a green hand or a gardening amateur in the advanced who is bothered by the physical discomfort, just read on.
I. What is a garden working bench?
Garden working benches are designed for gardeners. One of the major features is their waist-height, namely a height around that of the kitchen counter so that you can do potting or re-potting standing up straight.
Besides, except for dis-burdening the physical discomfort of gardeners, other requirements such as the storage of tools and gardening supplies, mobility of the tables and easy and clean operations are all taken into full consideration in the design of such a product series. Therefore, potting tables with various functions can be found in the market.
II. What can potting tables do?
Plants, no matter quick growers like Scindapsus and arrowroot, or slow ones such as succulent plants, have to be trimmed or repotted when they reach a certain size, making potting, repotting and transplanting inevitable gardening works. A potting table serving as a dedicated space for you to do these jobs comfortably will maximize your joy of planting.
- With a plant bench, all your gardening tools and other supplies can have a specialized storage space to be well packed away, saving you from misplacing and rummaging them through the house.
- Designed in waist-height, the potting bench allows you to work standing up, freeing your neck, shoulders, back and knees from long-time stooping over low work surfaces. This is absolutely the savior for gardeners with back or knee diseases. Besides, as for healthy guys, such a dedicated workspace can effectively protect them from the risks of falling into these ills.
- Today, we always underline the importance of the sense of ritual. Because it can make us feel that the things we are doing are meaningful and important, making us willing to do it more carefully.
A dedicated workspace in your yard is just an approach to add such a sense to your gardening works. You can have a ritual of planting activities in your garden every spring, making you feel that in this season, doing some gardening work is a great personal or family tradition and interesting thing to make your life feel hopeful in the coming days of the year. More than that, such a workspace can simplify your gardening tasks and make you fully enjoy the time in the garden, creating a healthy way to have relax in your daily life without too much time or space limitation.
III. Looking for an excellent potting table, where to look at?
To meet the various needs of gardeners, plant benches are designed with different functions. The best-fitted garden working bench for you shall be the one that can solve your problems while fit for your specific situations such as garden situation and climate where you live. Here, 3 basic aspects that you need to consider when choosing a suitable potting station are listed. Under the guidance of this checklist, you will find that making a wise choice is not challenging at all!
∆ Material
Serving as the decisive factor of some key performances of potting benches such as weather resistance, weight capacity as well as the applied environment, the material shall be the first element to consider. Generally, wood, plastic and metal are the 3 most common options.
☼ Wooden Potting Benches
As the most popular options, wooden garden working benches boast 3 major advantages:
- Natural appearance: Wooden potting benches feature natural color, grain and smell, perfect for garden surroundings. They can harmoniously integrate into your yard or any other space readily such as a balcony to create a soothing and welcoming vibe.
- Firm& high weight capacity: Since potting benches will be used to place some heavy items, they need to have a firm and stable base so that they won’t tip over or move around while usage.
Firwood is preferred by most of the wooden potting tables producers. Because such timber has a long-term growth period, featuring a high density, beautiful natural grain as well as pleasing fragrance. Garden working benches made of firwood are firmer and more durable which are capable of bearing higher weight.
- More options available: Since garden working benches are the top choices for many gardeners, they have been developed into a mature product series; adding that wood material has excellent plasticity, potting tables made of wood boast a wide range of options in terms of both outlook and functions that can meet gardeners’ various requirements.
To be noticed, wooden potting tables also have an obvious drawback. They may perform not very well in anti-deformation under both super wet and super dry environments. Besides, wooden furniture also goes weather in the open environment. Therefore, if the weather where you are is pretty extreme, or you cannot accept your potting bench goes weather, then you should think twice before purchasing or take some corresponding protective measures, such as a protective shield or keeping it indoors when not used.
☼ Plastic Potting Benches
Compared with wooden potting tables, plastic ones feature incomparable advantages:
- Light in weight: A plastic potting station has a lighter weight, which is convenient to move or keep when not in use.
- Excellent weather resistance: In contrast to wooden ones, plastic potting stations perform pretty well in anti-weather. You can leave it outside uncovered without worrying about being soaked by rain, burned by the hot sun or weathering.
- Anti-corrosion& oxidation: Plastic also boasts an outstanding feature of anti-corrosion and oxidation. Such a property leaves its products to be easily maintained and to serve for a long time.
Among the 3 common materials choices, the plastic ones rank the third in terms of hardness. In other words, their load-bearing capacity may not be as good as wooden and metal.
☼ Metal Potting Benches
Metal potting tables serve as another choice that boasts irreplaceable advantages:
- Great balance among light-weight& nice load bearing& hardness: Metal potting stations usually adopt coated iron or aluminum as raw materials. One of the major features of such materials lies in that they harmoniously mix excellent weight capacity, lightweight and hardness. That is to say, metal benches feature easy movement, nice load-bearing capacity as well as durability or anti-deformation.
- Easy maintenance: Unlike wood which has a natural grain, metal products boast a smooth surface that is pretty easy to clean when soiled. The anti-oxidation and water-resistance coating has effectively solved the issue of rust. Metal potting stations perform well in weather resistance as well.
Just like plastic garden working benches, metal ones have an obvious drawback which lies in the limited options in terms of both functions and styles. Since potting stations made of these two materials are less mature and popular than wooden ones. They give priority to the very basic functions and simple structures that cannot satisfy some composite requirements as wooden ones do.
It is worth mentioning that some designers propose a smart solution that combines the merits of wood and metal by combining a wooden main body with a metal tabletop surface, leaving the super combination natural, solid, durable, anti-weather and easy to maintain.
∆ Size
Size turns to be another element that needs to be considered when choosing a great potting bench. Since the height of it decides whether you can work at full strength while the width and length depending on your available space for the bench.
☼ Waist-height
Working on a tabletop at a proper height can effectively reduce the pressure on your shoulders, neck, lower back and knees by preventing stooping and strain on your body. The protective effects are especially obvious when you work with heavy pots and containers of soil, facilitating you to focus on the gardening work without suffering from and bothering by the unnecessary physical discomfort.
The most ideal height of a potting table shall be the same as that of a kitchen counter. 36-inch is a very common height that can satisfy most people. However, if 36 inches is too short or high for you, you can look for some height-adjustable modes or potting tables with castors. With the extra height of the wheels, the outdoor potting bench can be higher than the ones without wheels. In a word, it is suggested to figure out the height of the bench before you settle on a certain one.
☼ Tabletop Surface Area
Generally speaking, the larger the tabletop available space is, the more convenient and easier your operation will be. Because the actual situation usually goes that, just like your kitchen counter, when you start to work with a will, you will find that you can never have enough tabletop space.
Therefore, ideally, within the acceptable floorplan, always choose the potting station, the tabletop surface of which is as large as possible.
∆ Functions
☼ Storage
Except for serving as a dedicated gardening workspace, another very important function of a potting table is the storage of gardening tools and other relevant supplies. With such a practical function, all your gardening tools can be kept together that you won’t be bothered by that mysteriously disappeared pruner or a messy yard with scattered tools on the floor any longer.
A well-designed potting table usually divides the storage space into two parts, one part for hanging storage which is usually designed into dedicated holders or slots for hanging some small tools such as pruners, scissors, shovels and rakes. The other part usually comes with a multi-layer shelf structure that can accommodate some relatively large-size supplies, such as flowerpots, fertilizer bags and soil bags.
The most ideal situation goes that your potting station comprises both the two storage parts. However, if your budget is limited or you prefer certain functions that have to give up one of them, then it is suggested to choose a bench with space for you to DIY storage units.
☼ Built-in Sink
A built-in sink can be the most surprising design of the potting bench series. During potting, repotting and other gardening works, it is inevitable to spill soil and drop out clipped branches and leaves on the ground, which turns gardening an unacceptable indoor activity by someone fanatic for cleanliness or leaves tail-in work a drudgery.
The built-in sink is inspired by washing-up sinks that allow you to “play soil” to the fullest without worrying about dirtying the floor. Some of them are even equipped with a water channel for convenient cleaning. A smart design of the built-in sink goes that they can be hidden when not used. Since not every gardening operation needs to be operated in the sink. Sometimes, a flat surface is more convenient and comfortable for you to trim your bonsai. Other than this, a garden working bench can also serve as a flower stand in your yard or garden, the tabletop surface of which is used to display your plants. In a word, if possible, consider those potting benches with a built-in sink, you will find that it will be the most amazing part once you start planting.
☼ Lockable Wheels
To facilitate movement, some potting tables are provided with smooth castors. Such a design is pretty necessary for gardeners who live in places where the weather is not friendly for a garden working bench to leave outside or the one who needs to move the bench now and then.
To be noticed, if you have decided to purchase a potting bench with castors, choose the one with lockable wheels so that it can stand still and be much more stable when you work. After all, you will not want your bench to move around on the uneven ground when you trim your plants.
IV. Potting Bench Selection Tips Quick Review
This passage introduces a very practical gardening furniture supply, garden working bench, for boosting your gardening works. Meanwhile, we also provide a very detailed guide on what to look at when choosing such a bench and unpack the reasons behind it. The tips can be briefly summarized as:
- Pay attention to the materials. Different materials have various advantages and drawbacks that you’d better figure out and choose the one best fitted to your actual situation.
- Choose the correct size. The most ideal potting table shall have a waist-height tabletop surface for you to work stretched and relaxed. Meanwhile, the area of the operation platform shall be as large as possible in the allowed range.
- Storage function serves as the second major purpose of a garden working bench shouldn’t be ignored. An excellent garden working bench shall comprise both a hanging storage part for small tools and a multi-layer shelf structure for large items.
- A built-in sink allows you to operate gardening works without spilling the soil or clipped branches and leaves on the floor, which can help you keep your space clean. Meanwhile, the sink can be hidden when you need a flat surface or want to use the garden working bench as a flower stand.
- If the weather where you are is not friendly for the potting table that you have to keep it indoors after using, or you need to move your plating bench now and then, consider the one provided with lockable wheels. Such wheels can make your movement effortless, meanwhile, perfectly overcoming the issue of poor stability.
We hope that this passage can be helpful to your gardening works. Shall you have any valuable suggestions or experience, welcome to share with us by leaving your comment in the section below!