I have a new potting bench and I want to get new containers for potting soil and soil components i.e perlite, peat moss etc... I have a shelf area 47"w 18"tall, 23" deep to work with. What do you house your potting soil etc in??

Aluminum garbage cans, or the big plastic totes from Walmart.

I use the plastic grocery store bags. Went to the Thrift store and found a nice bedside table with drawers and keep the bags in the drawers. It is easier for me to take out a small bag and the drawers give me a place to hide my little shovel, fertilizer and other plant needs. But I live in a house and do not need to keep a lot inside the house. I only needed a little bit of things for winter care all summer everything is done outside.

I have a garden shed... you know, one of those Rubbermaid jobs. I throw the bags of soil in there until I need soil and then I shovel soil from their bags into plastic buckets with metal handles. Then I take the bucket to where I am potting but when I run out of soil, I have to go back to the shed to get more soil. I know I need a better system.

>> What do you house your potting soil etc in??

I save the original bags (1 or 2 cubic feet, heavy-gauge plastic). If I only fill them back up half-full, they stand on their own after I thump them up and down a few times to settle them and spread the base a bit.

It also helps them "stand up" when I have several in a row supporitng each other, or if they can lean against a wall.

The top half folds over and keeps dust out, and maybe keeps the mix moist a little longer.

I can get a small shovel in FAIRLY easily if I roll the tops down part way. Or I scoop mix out using a laundry detergent jug with the bottom cut off and the cap screwed on. Once the bag is only 1/3rd or 1/4 full, I can lift it easily and pour it out into pots or a wheelbarrow.

A wheelbarrow with heavy-duty steel shelving over it makes a kind of a potting bench, though usually with a slope.