34 Potting Bench Ideas for Outdoor Storage and Organization

Leanne Potts, Katie Bandurski

Mon, June 19, 2017 at 11:00 PM UTC

10 min read

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Use these creative ideas to get organized and add storage space to your outdoor areas.

A potting bench is a hardworking piece of outdoor furniture that can add functional storage space for to any garden. The perfect potting bench provides storage for your tools and empty flower pots, a place to display a few prized plants, a bin for keeping your potting soil dry, and easy access to water. The ideal potting bench should also be pretty, and placed in a shady spot where you can work with your plants without getting a sunburn.

Organize your gardening space with one of these clever ideas for potting benches. Our favorite bench ideas range from using repurposed materials to incorporating smart storage solutions.

Simple Wood Potting Bench

A simple wood potting bench provides storage for tools and supplies, a place to display plants, and a work area. Put the potting bench in a shady spot near a shed where your larger tools can be stored and you’ve got a work area where you can handle basic potting chores.

Antique Table Potting Bench

A rustic wood trestle table makes a simple potting bench. It’s pretty enough to put in an outdoor room with empty pots and other supplies stashed under it.

Elevated Garden Aesthetic

A pair of twin bed headboards are incorporated into this potting bench, a clever use of materials that makes the piece look like indoor furniture. Ample shelves provide room for pots, bins and other supplies, along with a place to display plants.

Use Space Wisely

Hang a row of hooks at the end of a potting bench to create efficient storage that keeps your tools close at hand. A small metal trash can under the counter keeps potting soil dry.

Functional Potting Bench Storage

A lovely triadic color scheme of orange, purple, and green elevates this potting bench and work area from functional to fabulous. The accessories, tools, plants, and the wall behind the bench have all been curated with an eye to aesthetics as well as function.

Potting Bench Nook

<p>Emily Minton-Redfield</p> — Emily Minton-Redfield

A potting bench is tucked into a niche just off a patio. The privacy fence is doing double duty as a storage wall, with wall hooks added for hanging hand tools. The potting bench is stained the same color as the fence and decking, so the work area blends into the outdoor scene.

Sunroom Potting Bench

If you are lucky enough to have a sunroom, put your putting bench there so your plants and supplies are in one place, year-round. Here, a bathroom vanity has been repurposed as potting bench, with a bin for mixing potting soil in the hole where a sink would go.

Potting Shed Inspiration

A worktable and storage bins in a potting shed provide a cool, dry place to handle garden chores and store supplies. Shelves and hanging hooks turn the walls into storage space, packing a lot of functionality into a small space.

Cheery Potting Bench Decor

Outdoor potting benches with storage don't have to be boring. Look for a stylish piece of furniture, then paint it a fun, bright color like this airy powder blue. Accessories, such as a floating shelf, coat rack, and trellis, ensure every item has a proper place. A tiered dessert tray organizes seeds and small containers, while baskets keep garden magazines organized below.

Repurposed Furniture

An antique watering can repurposed into an outdoor light fixture is the star of this show. It pairs with the antique table-turned-potting bench that’s tucked into a shady corner of the yard.

Small Potting Bench with Storage

A countertop and pair of prefab cabinet units make an artfully compact potting bench in the corner of a shed. There’s a pegboard on the wall for hand tool storage, shelves on a wall for pots, and mason jars mounted under the cabinet for storing plant markers and twine. Larger tools hang from a rack on the wall and a garbage bin for storing potting soil is stashed under the counter.

Gardening Post

<p>Greg Scheidemann</p> — Greg Scheidemann

If you're going to store your potting bench outside, it needs to be tough. Consider a metal unit that can survive all four seasons. And when stocking the shelves, consider how each item will stand up to the elements. Don't stash valuable items or anything that can't withstand the weather. Instead, stock your potting bench with hand tools, pots, and spare soil.

Use Kitchen Bins For Potting Bench Storage

<p>Peter Krumhardt</p> — Peter Krumhardt

Use utensil bins intended for use in a kitchen to store garden tools and your gloves in the drawers of your potting bench. This keeps your supplies organized and close at hand.

Potting Bench with Counter Space

A cabinet equipped with a countertop makes a nice potting table and packs a lot of workspace and storage into a compact area. You can set this up in a garage, laundry room, or any other available area. A stool provides a place to sit while you work, and supplies can be stored in the drawers and cabinets. Small pots and hand tools hang on a wall-mounted utility board.

Work Shed Potting Bench

<p>William N. Hopkins</p> — William N. Hopkins

This potting table sheltered in a shed provides a dry, shady place to work, and there’s storage for supplies beneath the countertop work area. Ten-gallon metal trash bins hold potting soil, fertilizer, and soil amendments. There are also utensil bins repurposed to store trowels, pruners, and small hand tools, wall hooks for larger tools like rakes, shovels, and watering cans, and a full-sized trash can for refuse.

Garden Variety Potting Bench

<p>Kritsada Panichgul</p> — Kritsada Panichgul

A garden and potting bench blend beautifully in this arrangement, where an arbor filled with wisteria creates a shady work area for the potting bench. All the tools a gardener needs—water, potting soil, trowel, and pots—are close at hand and protected from the elements. There’s easy access to the shed and compost bin, too.

Potting Bench Storage Solutions

Look to your kitchen for creative storage solutions for your garden supplies. Use a wire bin for empty flowerpots and a dish rack for storing plant saucers.

Potting Bench Entertaining Station

Make outdoor entertaining easier by keeping essential party items nearby. Stock a potting bench with storage for silverware, glasses, napkins—anything you would typically be running into the house to grab for guests every five minutes. The station can store extra serving utensils, bulky coolers, or trays when not used.

Rustic Potting Bench

An antique kitchen cabinet makes for a perfect potting bench. The flour storage bins below are ideal for keeping potting soil dry, and hand tools can be stored in its drawers. Back it with an old stained glass window panel and you’ve got a lovely place to display plants as well as keep gardening supplies.

Country-Inspired Potting Bench

A rough-hewn potting table with a rustic vibe provides shelves for pots, drawers for hand tools and bags of potting medium, and a place to display potted plants. It’s tucked into a shady corner of the backyard, along a walkway, so it’s close at hand when plant work needs to be done.

Maximize Potting Bench Storage

Make a potting bench work harder by putting storage hooks on the side of the bench, near the worktop. This keeps your trowel and other small tools right where you need them. We love the repurposed granite counter used for this bench.

Greenhouse Potting Bench

Put a potting bench in your greenhouse for a handy place to work with your plants. You’ll have a view of your garden and be able to work in soft, filtered light with all your supplies at hand. This also makes it easy to leave newly potted plants in a protected area to ease stress that can result from putting them into a new container.

Bright Yellow Potting Bench

Make your potting bench beautiful as well as functional by incorporating a color scheme into your work area via your choice of tools, storage bins, and surrounding plants. This one uses primary colors of red, yellow, and blue to put a painterly sizzle of color in an outdoor area.

Tuscan-Inspired Potting Bench

Summon a Tuscan-inspired look with a potting bench that incorporates Old World features like a copper bowl sink, turned table legs, and rustic black hardware. Baskets for storing potting soil and tools, and a container of rosemary pull together this very Mediterranean look.

Potting Bench Combo

Potting benches don’t have to be a single piece of furniture. You can combine several elements to create a work area for repotting plants. Here, an antique bench is paired with a built-in counter and shelves to provide storage for supplies and a work area. The setup is inside a potting shed, so you and your supplies stay cool and dry. Wall art and a small area rug make the work area feel homey.

Beverage Depot

Trade rose pruners for rosé and use a potting bench with storage as a wine station. Wire racks installed under the top shelf hold stemware, ice-filled buckets keep your favorite summer sips cool, and hooks drilled into the side keep towels on hand for any sticky situations. Store your potting bench bar on a deck or patio to keep happy hour going all summer.

Retro-Inspired Potting Bench

This potting bench and work area has a retro 1970s-inspired color scheme of orange and avocado green with a splash of sunshine yellow. The color scheme is carried out in the potting bench, plants, and garden supplies because even a utilitarian space should be beautiful.

Painted Potting Bench

A potting bench painted electric purple provides a colorful, functional outdoor work area. There’s a shelf for pots and plants and a countertop workspace. A picket fence panel backs the bench, giving it a country cottage look.

Recycled Style

<p>Better Homes and Gardens</p> — Better Homes and Gardens

Look no further than secondhand furniture for a cost-effective potting bench with storage. Scour vintage shops, thrift stores, and flea markets to find the perfect potting bench, then stock it with all your outdoor essentials. We're particularly fond of this green bench—the weathered finish gives it a rustic look that you don't have to worry about damaging.

Decorative Potting Bench

A picket fence panel backs this potting bench, along with a pair of birdhouses. This piece of garden furniture is for displaying plants not potting them up, so it’s decked out with candles and candlesticks, buckets of moss balls and other decorative items, and painted sunny yellow.

Simple Potting Bench Inspiration

Opt for a simple potting bench when you only need storage for a few outdoor staples. Your space will look clean and fresh, plus you won't be bogged down by items you don't use. Look for a traditional wooden bench, and fill it with essential garden gear like a hose, gardening gloves, and a few pots.

Garage Storage Unit

Use a potting bench with storage in your garage if you have the space. This is a great spot to store items that need to stay dry, like rust-prone tools and fabric garden gear. Wire shelving units above the potting bench provide additional storage for watering cans, seasonal accessories, and bulk items.

Potting Bench with Curtains

Instead of cleaning up your potting bench after planting, wouldn't it be nice to draw a curtain and have the mess disappear? Curtains below the workspace hide dirty gardening supplies, unsightly objects, and other messes. Try fabric in a bright color or bold pattern for a fun addition to any potting bench.

Repurposed Potting Bench

Repurpose an unused piece of furniture as a potting bench with storage with a fresh coat of exterior paint, and let it hold all of your outdoor tools. This old hutch became an outdoor potting station complete with interior hooks, chicken wire cabinet fronts, and open bottom shelving.

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