Utterly re-purposed potting bench (it ain't pretty)

Though I lust after a sculptural, beautifully handcrafted cedar or whatnot potting bench, with pegs(!) to hold tools, shelves that separate pots from other shtuff, a soil drawer and slatted table top that allows soil to fall through and be collected/recycled for later use... I ain't got the monies.

Which is fine. Such luxuries, as nice as they are, are not necessities.  (Hurray! My head's screwed on relatively straight in that category!)

So, after many years of collecting random stuff has evolved into my recycled/thrifted potting bench:

Just about everything in this picture has been either re-purposed/recycled/thrifted or curb-side found.  The major aspects of my potting bench are the 2 plastic barrels, gotten from the local Coca-Cola plant I frequented to make rain barrels with (these were extras I magically was able to fit into my now defunct mini-van... how I miss that vehicle..sort of)!

The table top of the bench is an old, but sturdy, plywood/laminate countertop someone down my street chucked.  It was originally pink-ish but thankfully faded to more beige (I hate pink).  It has a hole for a sink in the middle that is now covered by my greatest recent find that has I think completed my bench: PLANTATION SHUTTERS!

These shutters are of terrible cheap material;  material that is too flimsy for good household use I think (which is probably why they were chucked) but excellent for my use.  They must have been used outdoors partially as they were filthy.  I didn't even bother with washing them off because dude, they're going to get dirty on the potting bench anyways.

What I feel sort of awesome about is that they allow me to have that nifty slatted soil table top part I've always been craving:

They're slightly tilted to have enough room to let soil fall through the slats into some plastic containers (also curbside found) below for collection, OR can be fully opened to allow bunches of soil to fall through.

HUZZAH!  So yeah, who needs a fancy schmancy cedar bench?

Taking the Tomatoes to the next level

The tomatoes are growing so fast! (Surprise there...)

It's soon coming to the point where I will need to graduate them and their fast growing selves from egg carton holes to TOILET PAPER ROLL TUBE POTS!

 

Big step for these guys.  I contemplated shoving the whole kibosh (seedling with egg carton cutout) into the toilet paper roll tube, but as I have yet to meet a not hardy tomato seedling, I'm just yanking the seedling out of the paper egg carton and carefully moving it into a more vertically soil rich environment of the toilet roll tube.

Such an easy cheap little pot until I move them to spacious digs such as the NEWSPAPER pot, but I'm try to keep them at bay for as long as possible as the garden-garden outside needs time to fill up.

These toilet roll tube pots are so simple.  Take one toilet paper roll tube and cut 4 little snips at one end equidistant from each other:

Bend into each other until they hold and are flat and will stay relatively upright when filled w/dirt and a plant.

Voila! (Viola!):

Instant drainage too is pretty sweet.

Their roots will grow nice and deep in this for a while and I'll let them get a bit "tube pot bound" before their next move.