Photo credit: Susan Reimer

You've seen them in fancy garden magazines and even fancier garden catalogs.

Garden workbenches, with drawers, a dirt sink, shelves for pots, and a latticework backstop on which to hang tools.

They can cost hundreds of dollars and take up quite a bit of space.

Or not.

A couple of years ago, my extremely clever brother-in-law, Jeff, was in town for a visit and crafted for me out of some old wood this garden bench.

No dirt sink. No drawers. No lattice work. Only one little shelf near the ground.

But it is all I need for potting plants in the spring and for the occasional messy chore. It keeps me from getting all sorts of dirt and junk on the picnic table on the deck.

I leave it out all winter and it has aged nicely. It is small enough to go almost unnoticed. Even my grass-loving husband doesn't need to make much of an arc around it when he mows.

Perfect.