Since moving into our house last fall, we haven't had room to use our IKEA storage shelves, so they've been taking up room under our back porch. I finally got around to putting one of them to good use, and built a pretty decent-looking potting bench from one of them!
I broke in my new garden workstation by styling a juniper I picked up from Home Depot a few weeks ago. It's a Sargent juniper (juniperus chinensis 'Sargentii'), and was the closest thing I could find to a shimpaku juniper at a big box nursery.
I wish I had taken some before pictures! I probably trimmed half of the length off the main trunks. I'm going to let it grow out until the spring, and then look at trimming it back again.
I didn't comb out and trim the roots because it's still in the heat of the growing season. I'll plan on trimming the roots back in late winter or early spring, while it's dormant. Since I'll be doing root work on it relatively soon, I used a sandy potting soil instead of regular bonsai soil.