How to Build a DIY Wood Pallet Potting Bench
How to build a wood pallet potting bench using a single pallet plus a few extra planks from a second. Creates a low-cost unit that you can stand at to sow seeds, pot plants, and store gardening materials. DIY video included at the bottom which shows step-by-step how to recreate this potting bench.
Servings 1 Potting bench
Cost $5
Equipment
- splitting wedge or hatchet
- mallet
- measuring tape
Ingredients
- 2 wood pallets see above guidance on selecting them
- 10-20 long screws 2.5-3" long
Instructions
- Source your two pallets that have a design using wooden spacers. Aim to use two identical ones and ensure that they've not been treated with chemicals by looking for the stamp on the side. Guidance on this is further above.
- Using a mallet (or hammer) and a splitting wedge (or old hatchet) to pry four of the reverse-side planks off of the pallets. When you remove the planks, the wooden spacers should still be attached. You'll need to remove all of them from one pallet, leaving it as a flat surface with nails jutting from the back.
- Cut these four planks down to 35.4" (90 cm) to create the legs of your wood pallet potting bench. Make only a single cut so that each plank has a wooden spacer at the top and a second one a bit further down. The distance between the wooden spacers should all be the same. Mine are 15" (38 cm) apart, but this measurement is arbitrary. The important thing is that the distance between the spacers on all four of your legs is the same measurement.
- Return to the pallet that you've removed all of the reverse side planks from. Hammer the nails/screws down flat.
- Next measure the width of the pallet and mark out a cut that you'll make in the middle, between the front-facing slats. You'll cut it in two, but one side should be 2" (5 cm) wider than the other. Cut the piece into two using a hand saw, jigsaw, or another cutting tool. You should not be cutting through any of the front-facing slats, only the wood frame that they're attached to. The extra 2" (5 cm) on one is so that the top surface has an overhang at the front, for you to lean against.
- Lie two of the legs down on a work surface -- I've just used the ground. Screw the shorter surface that you've just cut into the wooden spacers towards the middle of the plank. Situate the lower surface against the legs so that there's no overhang at the sides.
- Screw the remaining two legs onto the lower surface. When they're affixed, pull the wood pallet workbench vertical. If the spacing between the wooden blocks on the legs is not exact, you'll know it at this point and need to do some extra work as the entire build will be wonky.
- Screw the top surface on, making sure that it sits flush against what will be the back of your wood pallet potting bench. That gives it a 2" (5 cm) lip at the front.
- To give the build more stability, remove extra planks from the second pallet and screw them in against the back and/or sides of the potting bench. Diagonal braces are stronger, but even horizontal planks will make the potting bench sturdier.
- You're finished! Kit the top out with a potting tray like mine and store your pots and trays underneath. I also have an old tub that fits underneath and is where I store potting mix, vermiculite, and other odds and ends.
Video
Notes
If you find pallets that are not the same design, you can still use them to create a wood pallet potting bench. You'll just likely need to split and/or use additional wood to create rests for the top and lower surfaces and the legs themselves.