This Dollar Tree Hack Turns A Drying Rack Into A Genius Garden Work Station

For avid gardeners, getting your hands dirty is part of the fun of gardening. But cleaning up your soil-covered workstation? Well, that's considerably less enjoyable. Whether you're repotting plants or cleaning up your garden at the end of summer, sweeping moist soil out of the little nooks and crannies of your garden work area is time-consuming at best. Instead of spending most of your valuable time cleaning up, you can DIY the most functional gardening cleanup station with just a few budget-friendly products. Using nothing more than a repurposed plastic drawer and an old dish drying or cookie cooling rack, you can create a more efficient workstation that will make cleaning up a breeze. 

To complete this DIY, you'll need to have a pre-existing wood work bench or desk to get started. If you don't have one already, you can add a custom workbench to your garage with a wood pallet DIY instead. You will also need one plastic stackable drawer and a dish drying or metal cooling rack from Dollar Tree. Most wire racks will work here, including this white wire cabinet shelf (if you cut the legs off), so feel free to get creative with your supplies.

Once your workstation is established, start by cutting a small hole in the top of the wooden workbench. Ideally, the hole will be about the same size as your drawer and drying rack. Next, remove the top lid and drawer from your stackable drawer, so you're left with just the frame. Wedge the frame down into the hole in your workstation, then slide the drawer back in place, leaving the top off. Next, place your drying or cooling rack over the top of the hole. If needed, you can use a few nails to keep the drawer and rack in place. Now you can sweep dirt and other debris from your desk/workstation, through the wire rack, and into the drawer, which can be easily removed and the dirt dumped into the trash.

A project like this is an excellent opportunity to reuse old items around your house. Instead of a drying rack, for example, you could try repurposing an old metal shelf, a flat colander, or a pizza pan with holes in it. For the plastic drawer, you could DIY some wooden suspension rails and slide an old recycled bin or a cheap plastic basket into place.