DIY Potting Bench

[BigV]

I have traded in the turf on the parking strip for a flower garden. The "parking strip" is the space between the curb and the sidewalk, not actually for parking, go figure. It's owned by the city, but it is expected to be maintained by the homeowner. I don't care much for the flat green grass look, not to mention the fact that it is lots of work to maintain that way. I greatly prefer more variation in topography and in landscaping. I wanted more bees and butterflies and less mowing. I got into this project and decided that I needed a workspace that wasn't in the house or on the sidewalk, so I decided to make a potting bench. Here are the highlights from the construction process.

I went to my local lumber yard, Limback Lumber, here in Ballard and got several fence boards and a couple of 2x6s of western red cedar. Cedar is inexpensive (around here), easy to work with, naturally rot resistant, and very well suited to outdoor neglect.



I got 2x6s because that's what they had and I decided to rip them into pairs of 2x3s for the legs of the bench. Here's one that's been marked for ripping by my circular saw.



Before.



After. The line was straight by my cut has a little wobble in it. There's very little surface to support the baseplate of the saw. I'm happy with the cut and I'm ecstatic I didn't saw through my sawhorses.