Top tub

Go green with Mark Rayner's recycled vegetable and herb planter or display table.

You will need: An old stainless steel laundry tub, old wooden desk (or set of drawers, bench or table), old terracotta pots, jigsaw and drill with 10mm drill bit, pencil, sandpaper, paintbrushes, methylated spirits, a selection of smaller-growing vegetables and herbs and good quality potting mix.

Resene Vinyl Etch adhesion primer, Resene Smooth Surface Sealer, Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat and Resene Lumbersider tinted to Resene Supernova, Resene Daredevil and Resene Decadence.

Top tips: Use a desk made only of timber, not MDF or other interior particle boards - or replace any non-timber parts with exterior plywood offcuts. When painting desks and drawers, cover all untreated timber well for maximum weather protection.

Step one
Place the laundry tub upside down on the desktop and trace around the edge with a pencil, as shown. Measure about 25mm inside this edge (to accommodate the tub's overhanging lip).

Step two
Drill 10mm holes in each corner of the inner outline and cut out with a jigsaw. Drill 10mm drainage holes in the bottoms of each drawer.

Step three
Lightly sand the desk and drawers to provide a key. Prime any old varnished areas with a coat of Resene Smooth Surface Sealer. Prime bare wood with one coat of Resene Quick Dry. Allow two hours to dry.

Step four
Clean the tub thoroughly and apply one coat of Resene Vinyl Etch, allowing an hour for it to dry. Wash out brush with methylated spirits.

Step five
Paint the main body of the desk and the sides and insides of each drawer with two coats of Resene Decadence, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

Step six
Paint the top of the desk and fronts of each drawer with two coats of Resene Daredevil, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

Step seven
Paint the tub's upper and inner rim and its underside and the drawer handles with two coats of Resene Supernova. Allow two hours for each coat to dry. Place the sink into the cut-out hole in the desk top.

Step eight
Fill the tub with potting mix and plant with smaller growing vegetables and herbs. Also plant up terracotta pots and put a few larger ones on the desk top and smaller ones in the open drawers, as illustrated.

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