The Wrap Around Potting System.

Wrap Around Potting System.

My life of potting benches truly has involved.  For years and years I used a “Legless Potting Bench” and I pretty much made that bench famous when I shared it online so many years ago.  That started with me resting one end of the bench on my potting soil pile and supporting the other end with a saw horse or a few concrete blocks stacked up.

Mike’s Famous “Legless Potting Bench.

That worked well because back then I did everything pretty much by hand and had to shovel the potting soil on to the bench by hand.  So having one end of the bench actually sitting on the pile of potting soil that made loading the bench pretty easy.

A new potting system at Mike’s Plant Farm, Perry, Ohio

When I started My New Nursery one of the first things I did was build myself a new legless potting bench.  But this time I made a stand for it to sit on since I now had a tractor to load the bench.  But moving that thing around was a chore so I actually made it Mobile by Putting Wheels Under it.

Mike’s Legless Potting Bench on Wheels.

But I had a couple of problems.  Loading that small bench with a tractor was tricky, it was really easy to load it too heavy in the back and the bench would just flip over.

Secondly, it really wasn’t big enough for two or more people.

So this spring I decided to build my “Wrap Around Potting System that you see here.

The Wrap Around Potting System.

This new bench system is right up front in the nursery where customers mill around and check out and pay for their plants.  I felt that was important for a couple of reasons.

1.  We can work and still keep an eye on the cash register and the check out area.

2.  I think it’s important that when customers come to our nursery they “Get the Feel” that this is an actual working nursery, not just a retail garden center where plants come in on a truck from who knows where and get set out for sale.

People are curious and they like to see what we are doing on any given day when they show up.

3.  And of course this potting system is just a few feet away from The Donkey Pen and Finnegan and Fergus love to watch us work and they bray occasionally letting us know that they haven’t had a snack in a while.

Finnegan and Fergus sunbathing.

The day that I took these photos I wanted to get up high to get some good shots and I looked over and caught the donkeys sun bathing.  When it’s cool but sunny they find a spot where they can just soak up the sun.

You can tell that this is an early spring day because we haven’t even set any plants out for sale yet.  By late April this area is surrounded with beautiful plants awaiting eager buyers.

We can’t talk about potting benches and not mention potting soil.  Lots of folks have questions about the potting soil that we use So You Can Check Out My Secret Potting Soil Recipe Here.

Not only is this potting system right under an oak tree that provides some shade while work but it is also covering up a great big stump from a wild cherry tree that we had to cut down.  You can see the stump under the middle bench.

This potting system is basically made up of three of my legless potting benches connected together with four by fours as legless.  Pretty simple really.

I made a movie about how to build a “Legless Potting Bench” you can see that here;

As you can see I took most of these photos before we started using and “dirtied up” this new potting system.

Pam McGroarty loading potting benches at Mike’s Plant Farm.

Pam is loading the benches for the first time and she hates it when I take pictures of her in work attire, hair askew!  You know, it’s a girl thing.

Loading the potting bench.

And now it’s time to go to work!

So there you have it!  The Wrap Around Potting System.  If you have questions or comments just post them below.

P.S.  I am writing this the day after the 2016 Presidential Election and The Donkeys would like to Thank You for Your Support in Their Bid for the White House.