Ron continues his Denver stay with a visit to the meticulous garden of John Girton. John has asked for Ron's help to design and build a free standing potting bench. Using stunning redwood from the local Colorado forests, Ron and John create a beautiful bench complete with multi-level shelving above and a recessed receptacle for cuttings on the work surface. Not only will the bench help John in his gardening endeavors, but it is also an attractive addition to his garden.
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you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Sketch or drawing of project:
- Before he arrived, Ron had drawn up a sketch of a potting bench. He went over the sketch with John, just to make sure that it was designed with all of the features John had hoped for. John was delighted with the plans so they got to work.
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- They created a cutting list from the drawing by writing down how many pieces of wood they would need and what length they needed each piece to be cut. John selected weather resistant redwood to create his potting bench.
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- Using the cutting list as their guide, they used a power miter box to cut all the 2 x 2s, 2 x 4s and 1 x 4s to the required lengths.
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2. Build the braces:
- The bench that Ron designed would be supported by three identical brace pieces. Ron and John began by laying out and then tracing one of these pieces directly on a plywood workbench surface. Ron recommends doing this whenever he builds more that one identical piece for any building project. This helps to assure that each piece is exactly alike.
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- The layout they traced onto the plywood surface showed the exact position for each piece of wood that made up each of the three brace pieces. Each piece was clamped in place before they were attached together. This method is also a good as a double check that everything has been cut to the right length.
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- Ron used vinyl coated rust resistant decking screws to secure the pieces together. The head of this type of screw will accept either a square driver or a Phillips head bit. Because the wood they were working with was soft, Ron recommended a Phillips head for this project.
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- Ron recommended drilling pilot holes to prevent the screws from splitting the ends of the boards as they were driven in. Ron used a clamp to hold each piece firmly in place, drilled the pilot holes and then made the final attachments with screws. After all the boards were attached, they flipped the frame over and repeated the process on the other side.
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3. Assemble braces together:
- After the three frame pieces were assembled, it was time to secure them together. To hold the end frames upright, Ron temporarily clamped a bottom support to each end section and then spaced the two sections about six feet apart.
- The piece that formed the front edge of the potting bench was also the piece that was designed to hold the two end pieces together. Once the front edge was in place, they clamped it firmly to the frames.
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- With the front piece now holding the frame together, the bottom supports were no longer needed and were removed. This allowed Ron to adjust this top joint and make sure everything was level and plumb before permanently attaching it together with screws.
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- They added the center frame to the structure by first clamping it to the front edge and then fastening it with screws. The rear edge was attached next and the potting bench finally began to take shape.
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4. Shelving assembly:
- The final assembly was a matter of attaching each piece of the shelf framing and shelving boards in place, once again making pilot holes and using rust resistant screws.
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- After framing the top shelves, they moved to the bottom level to attach the boards making sure to leave a uniform space or margin between each one.
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- On the main work level, Ron recommended laying the boards out first to get the spacing just the way they wanted it. These shelves were designed to overhang on the front and sides just a little bit. They started with the front board and let it over hang by about a quarter of an inch in the front and on either side.
- They first clamped this front board into position and then after they laid out the remaining boards they attached the first board firmly with screws. They continued this process with the remaining boards to create a work surface that would be the ideal place for planting seedlings, repotting and cultivating container plants.
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- Next, they assembled and attached the upper shelves creating a handy, easy to reach storage space for pots, tools and supplies.
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5. Soil and clipping container
- For the final touch, Ron wanted to install a recessed plastic tub. This would be used for soil or clippings. Ron used the overturned tub as a template, and traced around it with a carpenter's pencil so they would know just where to make their cutout.
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