Plans for a Garden Planting Bench

Getting Started

• A simple but functional legless garden planter bench is easy to build. You don't necessarily need legs, but if you want legs, they're easy to attach.

  You need a measuring tape, screwdriver, drill, brackets, screws/nails and a saw. Purchase a 4-by-8-foot-by ¾-inch piece of plywood. Use treated plywood, especially if the garden planter bench is outdoors.

  Purchase 15 angle brackets or corner brackets, 30 nuts with bolts at 1 ¼-inch long that will fit your brackets, and 60 flat washers, according to BonsaiGardener.com. Lay your plywood on the floor of your garage or yard, measure in at 16 inches and mark it across the plywood with a pencil. Cut on this line. You should wind up with a 16-inch-by-48-inch piece.

  Take the smaller piece of plywood you just cut and cut along a diagonal line across the plywood. You will now have two triangular pieces, one at 48 inches on one side and the other at 16 inches. Saw a small piece of the pointed end of the triangle-shaped wood by measuring and marking 24-inches from the right angle of your 48-inch piece. Use your square and mark a line across the pointed end of the plywood. Cut along this line and discard the smaller pieces you just cut. The triangles are 16 inches on one end and 24 inches on the other end and about 4-inches from the cut. The pieces you have left should be the same. The two smaller boards remaining form the sides of the bench.

Forming Your Planter Bench

• The larger piece of wood now should measure 80 inches by 48 inches. Measure 16 inches on the long side of the wood and cut. You should remove 16-inches by 80-inches. The piece you have left should measure 32 inches by 80 inches, which will be your sides and the back of your garden planter bench.

  Stand the back piece on its edge on top of the bottom piece. Mark five marks spaced evenly where you will attach the two boards. Brackets should be no more than 11/2-inches from on the ends. Attach the back and the bottom with your brackets using your bolts. Attach the two boards left to the sides.

A Legless Planter Bench

• The advantages of building a legless garden planter bench include mobility---and it's great for shoveling potting soil right onto the bench. The legless bench is easy to store out of sight or place in your garden.