Repurposing an Ironing Board

I regularly see ironing boards in the “dump” piles out the front of peoples’ houses and it seems such a pity that they will be going straight to landfill, but if you see one grab it, this article will show you how to use it in the garden to help you sow your veggies more easily!

A short while ago I was able to get hold of an old iron board free for repurposing and it has come in very handy since as an all-purpose potting bench. You can use it to sow seedlings, mix up potting/seed raising mix, pot your seedlings on into the little paper pots or regular pots, you can do your cuttings and other plant propagation tasks as well. It really is multipurpose and the good thing is you don’t need to make any changes to the board itself beyond removing any fabric covers, leaving the wire mesh surface exposed.

Some advantages of using a repurposed ironing board as a potting bench include –

• It is light and portable; some even come with wheels on one end to making moving it about even easier.

• Because it is portable you can move it into the sun in winter or out of the sun in summer to make the job more comfortable.

• It folds up, so if you are pressed for space (particularly if you growing in a flat or townhouse) you can fold it up and hang it on the back of a door.

• It is adjustable you your height, so no more aching backs and you can set it up so you can work sitting or standing, whichever you prefer.

• The wire mesh allows any potting mix etc that falls out of the pots or whatever you are doing to fall straight through to the ground rather than grit up your work surface.

• The work surface is large enough for most work you would want to do.

 

As you move around, keep an eye out on those rubbish piles you may be able to pick yourself up a very handy potting bench for no cost, on the other hand if you are upgrading your ironing board you can repurpose the old one. Either way, you save money and there is less good stuff cluttering up our landfills.