Collection: Planters & Potting Tables

What is a potting table?

A potting table — also called a potting bench — is a dedicated outdoor workstation built for gardening tasks like transplanting seedlings, repotting houseplants, mixing soil, and organising tools. The two names describe the same thing; "potting bench" is more common in North American garden centers, while "potting table" tends to describe the smaller, more table-like variants. We carry both.

The point of a potting bench is ergonomics and efficiency. Bending over a wheelbarrow or kneeling on the lawn to repot a hosta is fine once a year. Doing it every weekend in spring will wear out your back. A waist-height work surface, a lower shelf for bagged soil and pots, and a tool rack within arm's reach turn a half-hour chore into a ten-minute one — and they keep the dirt off your patio table. For anyone running a container garden, starting seedlings indoors, or maintaining a row of raised garden beds, a potting table earns its footprint in the first season.

Standalone planters in this collection

Beyond classic potting benches, this collection includes a range of standalone planters that work as a planter table or stand on their own — elevated cedar planters, steel patio planters, vertical tiered systems, and a few specialized garden towers. They're a sensible choice when you want growing capacity separate from your work surface, or when you want both the bench and the planter from a single source.

Not sure how much potting mix to buy? Try our soil calculator to get the exact volume for any planter size.

If you're specifically after traditional cedar planter boxes, that lineup has its own dedicated product page — every size and configuration we offer is documented there in full.

Wood and material quality across our potting products

Every cedar item in this collection — tables, benches, and planters — is built from untreated Western Red Cedar harvested from sustainably managed forests. Cedar is naturally rot-resistant, free of preservative chemicals, and stable through repeated wet-dry cycles, so the same wood that lasts on an outdoor potting bench also handles soil contact on a planter base.

For the non-cedar pieces in this collection — galvanised steel patio planters, food-grade plastic vertical planters — materials are similarly chosen for outdoor durability and soil-contact safety. Specific material specs are listed on each product page.

How to choose the right potting table or bench

Five things matter when you're choosing a potting table or potting bench. Get these right and the table outlasts a decade of weather; get them wrong and you'll be replacing it in two summers.

• Work surface height. A comfortable working height for most adults is 34–38 inches — roughly the same as a kitchen counter. Too low and you'll stoop; too high and your shoulders will tire.
• Surface size. A 4-foot wide top fits a flat of seedlings, a bag of soil, and your tools without crowding. Tight balconies do well with 2- to 3-foot variants; serious gardeners go to 5 or 6 feet.
• Storage layout. A potting bench with storage is by far the most-searched variant — and for good reason. Look for at least one lower shelf for stacked pots and soil bags. A drawer is useful for seed packets, twine, and small hand tools. Side hooks or a slat-back panel keep larger tools off the surface. The more storage built into the bench, the less you'll be carrying tools back and forth from the shed.
• Material. Cedar, teak, and treated pine are the main wood options; galvanized steel and aluminum are the common metals. Wood wins on warmth, repairability, and looking right in a garden setting; metal wins on minimum maintenance. We make the case for cedar in the next section.
• Weather strategy. Will the table live under a roof, in the open, or in a shed in winter? An untreated cedar bench will silver beautifully if left outside; an unprotected metal frame can rust at the welds. Match the material to the spot.

If you're shopping outdoor-only and want minimum upkeep, look at the cedar models with a sloped roof and lower shelf — they're built to live in the rain.

Why cedar?

Many of the potting tables and benches in this collection are built from Western Red Cedar (alongside some fir and galvanized-steel options). Cedar is the most popular wood in North American outdoor furniture for a reason: it contains natural oils (thujaplicins) that make the wood resistant to rot, insects, and decay without chemical treatment. That matters for a potting bench because the surface is going to get wet — every time you water, every time it rains, every time you knock over a watering can. Pine or untreated softwood would warp and rot within two seasons. Cedar holds up.

Three more reasons cedar is the right choice for a cedar potting bench:

• Dimensional stability. Cedar expands and contracts less than other softwoods as humidity changes. The work surface stays flat, drawers keep sliding, and joints don't loosen.
• Light weight. A 4-foot cedar bench is light enough for one person to reposition seasonally without disassembly.
• It ages well. Cedar weathers to a soft silver-grey if left untreated, or holds a warm honey colour for years if you apply an oil finish once a season. Both look good in a garden.

Our cedar is sourced from sustainably managed forests in the Pacific Northwest, and many models ship flat with simple assembly. If you're comparing against a big-box bench, look at the wood thickness, the joinery (mortise-and-tenon or screwed butt joints), and whether the lumber is solid wood or veneer over MDF.

Setting up your potting station

A potting station is most useful when it sits where you actually garden. Practical placement rules:

• Near a water source. A hose connection within 15 feet saves a lot of trips. If your only outdoor tap is awkward, a short hose reel mounted on the side of the bench solves it.
• Partial shade, not full sun. A north-facing or east-facing wall keeps you comfortable in summer and protects the wood. Full afternoon sun in a hot climate will fade and dry the cedar faster.
• On a hard surface. Pavers, gravel, or a patio give you a clean floor. Sitting the bench directly on bare soil traps moisture under the legs and accelerates wear, even for cedar.
• Close to your inputs. If you compost, a compost bin nearby means you don't haul wheelbarrows back and forth. Same for your cedar planter boxes and raised beds — the bench is most useful when it's the hub.
• Tools at arm's reach. Hang your most-used hand tools on the side panel. Pots stack underneath, soil bags go on the lower shelf, seed packets go in the drawer.

Caring for your potting table

Cedar is low-maintenance, not no-maintenance. Three habits keep a cedar potting bench looking and working great for ten-plus years:

• Wipe it down at the end of the season. Sweep off soil and debris, hose down the surface, and let it dry completely before winter. Dry cedar is happy cedar.
• Decide on the finish. Untreated cedar will turn silver-grey within a year — many people prefer this look. If you want to keep the warm honey colour, brush on a clear penetrating oil (tung oil or a UV-protective deck oil) once a year in spring. Avoid film-forming finishes like polyurethane — they trap moisture and peel.
• Lift it off the ground in winter. If you're in a snow region, slide the bench under an overhang or into a shed. If it has to stay outside, prop the legs on bricks or pavers so the end-grain isn't sitting in meltwater.

For metal-framed potting tables, the rules are simpler: wipe down, check for rust at welds every spring, touch up with a rust-inhibiting paint as needed.