A Table in a Greenhouse
A greenhouse table serves for potting up, sorting seed and, in a larger house, sitting down. Unlike a bench fitted along a wall, a table stands free and can be moved, which is what makes it useful for jobs that change through the year.
It also gives structure to the space. With a table in place, tools gather in one spot instead of spreading across the staging, and the growing surfaces stay for plants.
Slatted or Solid
The surface decides what the table is good at, and this is a genuine trade off rather than a difference in build standard.
- Slatted tops shed water straight through and suit wet work such as washing pots and dividing plants.
- Solid tops give a stable surface for trays, tools and compost, and hold small parts where you put them.
If you only have room for one and you do a lot of potting, solid is usually the more useful. A potting table with a raised back does that job better still.
Sizing It to the House
The constraint is the path, not the table. A table that leaves less than about sixty centimetres to pass will make the house awkward to work in, and in a small frame that rules out most fixed tables entirely.
Folding and stacking models solve this. They come out when wanted and go against the wall otherwise, which costs nothing in floor space for most of the week.
Material
Powder coated steel, aluminium and treated timber all cope with greenhouse humidity. Indoor furniture does not: veneer lifts, chipboard swells and untreated softwood rots within a season of daily watering and overnight condensation.
Raise the feet off a wet floor on pads. A table standing in standing water deteriorates from the bottom regardless of the surface.
Working Table or Sitting Table
Most houses end up wanting both, and above about ten square metres there is room. Below that, a single table doing both jobs is the realistic answer, or a bench fitted along the wall for work with a folding chair for sitting.
The wider greenhouse furniture range covers bistro sets and seating built for the same conditions.
