Potting Bench - How to Create a Versatile Piece of Garden Furniture Into an Entertaining Table

A good potting bench is like a helper in cheap loans garden, there when you need it for those important container tasks at the season's start. One that's well accessorized will hold everything from hand tools to soil, keeping all the necessities exactly where you need them for your most efficient and enjoyable outdoor work. It also keeps stray dirt confined to one place, and that all goes away with a quick hosing-off. Even better, you can work standing up (or even sitting down), saving strain on your back and neck.

But what becomes of this ever-ready task table when all the seedlings are in their permanent homes, and every pot on the property has something growing within it? Does the bench sit there forlornly awaiting its next point of usefulness, which could be a whole calendar away?

Sure, there will be small chores in summer and fall such as transplanting houseplants, mixing fertilizer, and trimming and arranging cut flowers before taking them indoors, but these will be relatively infrequent. Your bench may not see any action for days-even weeks-at a time. Does such a valued piece of equipment deserve to sit idle for any part of the growing season? Of course not-there's plenty you can use this must-have piece of garden furniture for aside from its intended purpose.

By Day or By Night

Your potting table is a fixture of your outdoor space, so why wouldn't it also be a fixture of your outdoor entertaining? After a little clean-up its flat expanse lends to its use as an impromptu buffet, holding the side dishes and platters for an everyday cookout to a more formal dinner party under the stars. For the latter, break out a nice table runner or even two or three elegant cloth napkins diagonally folded and placed beneath the food. For this kind of occasion you can upgrade from your unbreakable but not so fancy plastic patio bowls and serving dishes to use the real things.

How about setting up a cocktail bar on your bench for a summer evening party on the patio? Some potting benches have a shelf above the main work area, and this can be the perfect place to set martini glasses, some bottles, and a couple of lanterns or citronella candles. You can also run some whimsical outdoor-grade string lights along the structure's perimeter, or bunch them casually on the top shelf among Viagra questions of wine, shakers, and other accessories. Any tool hooks on your bench can help out by holding up the string lighting or keeping corkscrews, openers, and other utensils close at hand.

Daytime entertaining can be boosted by a moonlighting gardener's bench as well. Imagine a casual weekend brunch or cappuccino and biscotti gathering in the garden with neighbors and friends. Get some floral-patterned mugs and use a clean, new clay pot or other small gardening container to hold cutlery, rolled napkins, and individually wrapped biscotti. Your guests will arrive, and the beautiful backdrop is already there-the foliage and flowers you've lovingly tended-so all you need from Mother Nature is a little cooperation with the weather. Thanks to your old faithful potting bench, every party will be a success.

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