Greenhouse Benches

Does anyone know where to find good "greenhouse benches"? I'd like to have something in my greenhouse besides plastic tables! :)

I recently rebuilt my benches and used closet shelving from Home Depot. They come in different lengths and they will cut them to a custom length if you need. They are pretty cheap, hold up to the humidity and moisture relatively well (I have some rust after 4 years on other benches) and you can use cinder block as a support. One caveat, if you are putting heavy plants on your benches, you'll need more support - in other words, I put brick every 5 feet or so, and when I put huge 12" pots of begonias on the benches, they did sag somewhat. Just needed bricks every 3 or 4 feet.

That is a great idea. Im thinking Im going to incorporate it in my greenhouse and maybe even outside later in the spring when the plants come out.

May I have your permission to copy the pic for my files?

This message was edited Dec 17, 2007 12:35 AM

Thanks for the idea - I'll show it to my husband :)

yes, please copy if you like.

I just posted on the same subject in this thread;
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/800079/
Bernie

I built mine from 5/5 by 5 1/2 fence boards, split the 5 1/2 and made the to use some wire shelving I had on hand.
Don't know how long they will last, but this is my first GH and I'm already think of changes.

Love Compost Tea

Very nice Rentman! I may borrow your idea in the future.

MollyD

I built mine with Redwood fencing from Home Depot
http://www.rader.org/garden/bench.htm

We built ours too, but only the top slats were made from redwood. We ripped those slats from 2x6 redwood. The bench posts went into the ground so those were pressure treated pine, the rest was pine, fir, whatever we had (or whatever was cheap.) I stained it all with a redwood stain so it looked the same.

The shelving is the closet shelving from Lowes. It does sag with heavy pots, so we added a piece of wood to the front of the shelf to strengthen it, and added vertical posts to transfer the weight to the benches below, in addition to using shelf brackets mounted on the wall. Main downside I can see to this plan is my benches are not movable, so I really thought long and hard about the configuration! So far I love them.

Redwood is super expensive in this part of the country!

MollyD

Yeah, it's not cheap here either. I checked my notes and we spent $112 for the redwood 2x6's to be ripped into the top slats for benches on the north and south side (I only show the south benches above.) I think the price for a 10' long 2x6 was a bit over $16 at Lowes. It was our splurge for the benches, I remember wincing as the cashier rang it up!

We've never worked with redwood before, so it was fun to try it. DH felt it would be a good wood to be exposed to the constant moisture of watering, but honestly I don't know if that really matters much. To be honest we both thought it would be pretty to look at, so we treated ourselves. Before I put the plants in there and started throwing dirt and water around, the benches looked much better than most of our house furniture (no longer true!) :-)
Sheri

LOL Sheri! Yeah I can see you wincing as dirt got on your benches!!

MollyD

Here are some benches I built out of lumber I got when I replaced an old boat dock, so wood was free. Because hoop-house space is at a premium, I Built the benches to mach the house. I will be building some benches that are only 6" tall to get the plants off the ground and have more air circulation. I ripped 2 X 6 for the sides to keep the weight down, so they could be moved, if necessary.

The benches in the center will also have a second shelf under the top for plants that do not need as much sun and can take more water, when plants on top are being watered. It's also a good place to put trays and empty pots.

kenboy

next

Oh Yes , KenBoy, recycling is like getting 70 % off.
Everyone cannot build their benches but those who can will save $$$ and enjoy their work.

Love Compost Tea

Kenboy- I still want to come up and see your plants and GH setup. May bring some other Master Gardener's from the area. Will D-mail when I can get it set up to come. Let me know about time and good dates.
My GH is smaller than yours but my benches are 4 years old and still in good shape. From a cedar mill close by, I was able to get the outside 3-4" slabs of wood. Used these for legs and outside frame. Also used this wood to build a log cabin look potting shed and covered the GH wood corners and all with these. Found a grocery store that had closed and got many plastic bread trays for free. These are the tops of the benches. All work well and cost was around $25. I really like the rustic look.

we did our own benches too with rabbit wire and 2X4s
built the gh ourselves too! ;)