15 Potting Bench Plans – Free Resource Guide & Tips

Working with a potting bench during gardening season is pure luxury and you’ll find yourself looking forward to puttering away at your own little garden center.

You can have everything organized in one location, including bags of potting soil, empty pots and containers, hanging garden tools, plant food and fertilizers (just make sure to store them in airtight containers so the rain won’t get in) and even a bucket for garbage storage or compost bin collecting if you like.

Once you start using the bench, you’ll realize how nice it is for your back since you’re working on a near-waist high surface, no more constant bending over while you fill your pots with soil (priceless!).

Here are several free plans for you to review, pick one you like and you can build a potting bench over a day or two and enjoy it during this year’s gardening season. The projects below vary from beginner to advanced woodworking skills with both simple and elaborate designs offered–a little something for everyone.

Free Potting Bench Plans

Cedar Potting Bench: How to build a handy gardener’s bench in a weekend. This potting bench features two back shelves, a grate covered dirt catcher, a built in potting soil center, side hooks for hanging garden tools, a work space and a bottom storage area.

Complete plans are available on rd.com website (4 pages of instructions), with an illustrated plan graphic that can be enlarged and downloaded or printed (simply click the picture to view).

Redwood or Cedar
Gardening Work Bench: This is a simple design and perfect for beginner woodworkers, out of all the plans presented here–this one is closest to the one I currently have. Nothing too fancy, but it serves its purpose perfectly!

The bench features a top shelf, large top work surface, a bottom shelf for storage and sturdy construction with notched framing. You can easily add side hooks for hanging garden tools if you like (I find that a handy feature). Plans are available via the sherrysgreenhouse.com website, parts list can be found here.

Backyard Potting Center: Download free plans for this good-looking workbench. Nice and sturdy, painted white or any color you wish. Skill level is rated for the intermediate woodworker.

This potting bench is 5 feet long, 63″ tall and features a top work surface, a bottom shelf for storage and a galvanized metal screen with 1-inch-square openings along the back side of the bench, between the top shelf and the main workbench frame. Slip large S-hooks into the screening in order to hang garden tools. Plans are available in a pdf download (found here) from Sunset Magazine.

Sunset Garden Work Center: A potting table project for the intermediate woodworker, this is another free set of plans made available by Sunset Magazine.

The table measures a luxurious 8 feet long, a 5 foot tall back and features plastic lattice insets that you can use to easily hang garden tools from as well as cover the bottom storage area, a sheet metal top work surface. The plans are available from Sunset Magazine’s website (sunset.com), printer friendly version available.

The Mobile Potting Table: Make this move-around Potting Table in a single weekend and get set for a “blooming” Summer season!

This 36″ tall potting station features wooden wheels that enable you to cart around your table as needed. Offers an alternative solution of buying wheels and steel axle instead. Features 4×4 legs, 1 1/2″ thick top work counter and bottom storage shelf.

Plans are made available from Shopsmith’s Hands On Web Magazine (shopsmithhandson.com). You can view complete instructions online or download a printer friendly pdf version (found here), Assembly Plans and list of materials needed.

Outdoor Projects – Planting Bench:

This potting bench features a top shelf for holding bedding plants or small pots, a recessed plastic pan built into the top work counter to hold potting soil, a back splash and top bar with hooks for holding hanging garden tools and a bottom storage shelf.

There are no detailed instructions but there is a graphic displaying design plans. Found at the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association website [wrcla.org].

Monterey Potting Center: A good starter do-it-yourself project, the potting center is constructed in simple sections, then fastened together with carriage bolts, washers and nuts for easy set up or knock down. There are plans on the back of this brochure that show an easy-to-build redwood can cradle or a redwood storage bin to complement your potting center.

This potting center features a 6 foot long roof, upper shelves, top work surface and bottom storage shelf. Instructions are available via pdf download and provided by the California Redwood Association [calredwood.org].

The Progressive Farmer Garden Bench: This bench is one of my favorites, it offers everything you need with a sturdy design and it’s pretty too!

The garden bench is 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, with a work surface at 38″ high. Features include top storage cubbies, framed pegboard along the back to hang all your tools, three sliding plastic drawers underneath the top counter and a bottom storage shelf.

The free plans are made available from Progressive Farmer [progressivefarmer.com] in a pdf download format available here. Nice design!

Cedar Potting Bench With Wheels: Here’s a simple yet sturdy potting pench with castor wheels that will last for years. If you’re looking for something that isn’t too fussy and can be easily carted around the yard, this is the project for you.

The bench features a large work surface, a bottom storage shelf and an optional framed wire mesh back to hang your garden tools from. Easy to follow instructions available in web page format and found at Home Envy by ToolGirl Mag Ruffman [homeenvy.com].

More Free Plans

• Ron Hazelton’s Housecalls – How to Build a Gardening and Planting Bench
• Mother Earth News – Garden And Yard Build The Planting Bench of your dreams
• Magnet Mart – Build A Garden Workbench (pdf download)
• Canadian Home Workshop – Flower Cart Style Potting Bench
• Kit Guy – Free Potting Bench Plans
• HGTV – Make a Potting Bench

Tips:

• Feel free to substitute cedar and more expensive woods that are called for in many of the project plans for wood that’s more within your budget–you’ll want to make sure though to treat the wood well so it won’t rot or weather too quickly.
• You can alter the project measurements so the bench is at the height that best compliments your needs, just be sure to adjust other component measurements if necessary.
• If you’d like some pretty eye candy and display your potting bench as a charming piece of yard furniture, try stenciling designs with outdoor paint along the shelves or frame of the bench, I’ve seen some beautiful benches done this way.
• If your project of choice doesn’t include many options for holding garden tools, add hooks suitable for the outdoors along the top shelf or along the sides of the top work counter. You could also attach some pegboard, wire mesh or lattice between the bottom shelf and top work surface (along the sides), it’s great to keep the tools organized and you just reach over the side to grab what you need. Frame the added sides for a finished look, but it’s not necessary.
• If you plan on keeping the potting bench outdoors over the winter, clean the bench as best you can then fasten a tarp or plastic sheet over it to protect it from the winter weather. This will help your bench weather better over time so you’ll be able to enjoy it longer.

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