Somewhere I have seen a detailed description with very clear photos of the making of wicking beds. The ones I saw had edgings made of sleepers, not wire or iron or bales. I've googled and searched every Oz garden site I can find to no avail. It wasn't Scarecrow's thread or log on these beds, tho hers are good. I thought for sure it must have been on ALS - where else would one get such clear information? - but can't find it again. Can anyone help?
Thanks all, but unfortunately I have seen these and they are not the ones I saw a couple of months ago, and which I am now looking for. Oh what it is to lose your mind as you gain the years!! Have no idea where I saw those pics.
No, that's not it but thank you, Ggang. It must have been in a magazine, but not Warm Earth as the photos were in colour. Darn it!! I don't do frustration well.
Posts: 1943 Location: Central Coast NSW Joined: 07.07.08
Posted on 03-09-2008 20:49
I've read some about wicking beds but am not sure how it really works.
Does keeping plastic sheet under really helps? Does it means it works like a pond, but filled with earth? It would cost a lot of money putting lining in the beds? What difference does it make with putting dripping/seeping lines and using this method?
Posts: 1443 Location: Mid North SA Joined: 09.07.06
Posted on 04-09-2008 09:57
Hi Darls
These are some notes that I hope will help you with your questions...
The plastic sheet below the ground is to keep the water in a 'pool' that's only 10 - 15 cms deep.
I use sand in this layer.
Roots of plants don't grow in this layer because they don't like being that wet.
The idea is that it provides water to the growing area by a wicking process...water seeps upwards to the root zone and then this area dries out allowing oxygen to reach the roots of the plants.
The idea is similar to the 'self-watering pots' but on a larger scale.
It hasn't cost us much money to put the five new beds in this year...just a bit of hard work...digging out the 'pool' area. We live on rock here.
The plastic is just a black plastic from the hardware store at $2-3 per metre.
The plastic drainage pipe worked out at $1.50 per metre but there are other ways to get the water down to the 'pool' area...like plastic bottles that reach down through the growing area.
The difference with this system is that it waters from beneath...the very top layer remains dry with a mulch layer over it. The system maximises the use of water.
I only need to fill the pipes once a week in the middle of our hot summers and have only filled them once over winter...any rain that falls stays within the system.
There's no danger of flooding in wetter areas because the water only stays within the plastic lined 'pool' area, the rest drains away.
All water that is put into the bed is used by the plants...little evaporates...you only use what the plants transpire. Compost earthworms live within the growing medium (around 30-50cms ideally).
These worms are fed in-situ and keep the area well nourished and aerated.
Tree roots are also excluded from the growing areas..the main reason I have used this method, my fruit trees and local gums trees were stealing all the water I was using in the veg garden.
I have found most plants grow much better on this system. On this thread I had a photo comparing the growth of Zucchini plants last year.
I'm still experimenting with which veg grow well in the system.
Why not start with a box system to get the feel of the system.
But mostly, it's important to be a good steward of a small patch of earth and to know that you are one among millions who are helping to heal a wounded planet, one garden at a time.
Paul McKenzie, Why Garden?
Posts: 1943 Location: Central Coast NSW Joined: 07.07.08
Posted on 04-09-2008 10:29
Thanks for that, Scarecrow. That's quite informative than some other sites offers.
1. How much does lining need to cover from bottom to up? Or is it just to cover the bottom not the side?
2. It would work better with corrugated iron than with brick walls? We plan to have brick walls for garden beds due to size and shape.
3. We get quite enough rains (already over 1,000m by Aug - of course I'd rather share them with all over australia ) so would it be bit more for those of drier areas? Or it applies to all areas - just musing...
4. How deep does the 'bottom' part of the bed need to be buried - like you said you had to dig in - and how high is quite enough?
Sorry many questions, it was something I wondered for a while so grabbing this opportunity to ask questions so I understand better.
Posts: 1443 Location: Mid North SA Joined: 09.07.06
Posted on 04-09-2008 11:30
Good I like to have questions to answer...better than my babbling on with stuff that people don't want to hear.
Hi Tina
If you have time please check out the Waterright site especially This Page on the History of wicking beds. They were started in Ethiopia so maybe they are better for dry areas (Darls Q3) but I think everyone should be making the best use of the water they get.
Hi Creeker
I do use shadecloth over the beds up here...I will be trialling some beds in a shade house setup with 50% shadecloth this year in an effort to keep the grasshoppers (and birds...chooks) out!
Otherwise these beds have been put under trees (old Almonds and Gum trees) in areas where I previously couldn't get anything to grow. As just about all my veg beds are shaded in summer I can't really answer about the full sun aspect but the boxes and beds I've grown through winter have been in full sun.
I think that the evaporative effects of full sun could perhaps lead to a salt build up and the heat may upset the system (worms etc).
Hi Darls Q1.10-15cms seems to be deep enough for the 'pool' section. This also happens to be about as far down as I can easily dig...so I am raising the beds. The plastic goes on the bottom and up the sides to form this 'pool'.
Q2. Brick walls would be fine, you would need to add a drainage hole or two to allow the 'pool' to overflow in times of heavy rain (wow 1000mm so far this year...we've had 120mm )
Q3. See Tina's answer above...some folks have added charcoal to the bottom 'wet' layer in areas with higher rainfall. This could prevent that layer becoming 'sour'.
Q4. The 'pool' area could be put straight on the surface as long as it could be contained to hold the water.
If they are made entirely 'in-ground' the excess water will still over-flow from the 'pool' area and into the surrounding soil or the beds can be set up to drain into another bed.
Yes sorry for the hijack Maddyr but at least the thread's called 'wicking beds'should make future searches easy!
More questions Please! Or am I confusing every one????
But mostly, it's important to be a good steward of a small patch of earth and to know that you are one among millions who are helping to heal a wounded planet, one garden at a time.
Paul McKenzie, Why Garden?
I am intending to build at least one wicking bed very very soon. I have lettuce growing in a Broccoli box that is a wicking box. I have been researching it quite a bit but have a question. If you use straw or such like in the pond part of the bed, does this breakdown over time and take away from the efficiency of the watering?
Posts: 1443 Location: Mid North SA Joined: 09.07.06
Posted on 04-09-2008 15:24
Hi Weaver
I used straw and shredded paper in my broccoli boxes and it did break down.
When I dismantled the boxes recently there wasn't a clear difference in the 'pool' section and the roots of the plants (broccoli and cauliflower) had grown through and were all over the hose. The plants were still growing OK, they had just reached the end of their useful life. There were lots of worms in the box so I used those in to make up another bed.
So to answer your question yes the straw would break down and I should think it would have some negative effect on the watering. My in-ground beds have sand in the bases.
The waterright people in Qld use bagasse which I would have thought would break down too but I'm not familiar with bagasse so don't really know.
In this video the guy grows his vegetables in old fridges which have drainage holes in the sides. The bases are filled with rocks/gravel. I don't think he has done it intentionally but what he has created are large Wicking Boxes.
Another person who emailed me via the blog was considering using gravel/pebbles in the 'pool' section of his in-ground beds (he lives in Cairns)...I might have to contact him again to see how he went. So another option could be rocks of some sort...but you'd have to be careful of ripping the plastic. Maybe something more solid could be used for the base.
But mostly, it's important to be a good steward of a small patch of earth and to know that you are one among millions who are helping to heal a wounded planet, one garden at a time.
Paul McKenzie, Why Garden?
I use coconut coir mulch in the bottom of mine, with the idea it probably won't break down as quickly as hay etc. The only downside of this is that so far I haven't been able to get a local or even Australian supply .
I had planned to use straw but now will rethink that and go with gravel or sand I think. It took me a while to convince DH that this is a good idea but have won him over. I am thinking it might be good for corn and tomatoes. What have other people grown in wicking beds?
I have a tank that I use for my vegie garden so have managed to keep it going over last summer in stage 4 water restrictions (I dont have lawn or non-food plants) but as things dont seem to be going to get any better I think this might be the way to go.
Posts: 1443 Location: Mid North SA Joined: 09.07.06
Posted on 06-09-2008 12:26
weaver wrote:
I had planned to use straw but now will rethink that and go with gravel or sand I think. It took me a while to convince DH that this is a good idea but have won him over. I am thinking it might be good for corn and tomatoes. What have other people grown in wicking beds?
I have a tank that I use for my vegie garden so have managed to keep it going over last summer in stage 4 water restrictions (I dont have lawn or non-food plants) but as things dont seem to be going to get any better I think this might be the way to go.
Weaver
Hi Weaver
I'll be interested to see how you go with corn and tomatoes as these were two that didn't work for me in my trial last year. I hadn't built the beds up high enough then.
I have since built all the beds up so that there is about 30cms of growing area for the roots. I'm putting both these types of plants in again as I think they should do well.
Last year Pumpkins and Zucchini (didn't wilt in the heat at all) loved the beds in summer as did water thirsty herbs like Basil and Parsley. Also Climbing Beans.
During winter Mini Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Silverbeet, Cabbage and Leeks did well in in-ground beds (built up) and a Cauli, Broccoli and Kale one per broccoli box did well!
I might try a small bed with a base of gravel/small rocks this year...I have one more to make!
But mostly, it's important to be a good steward of a small patch of earth and to know that you are one among millions who are helping to heal a wounded planet, one garden at a time.
Paul McKenzie, Why Garden?
You can grow just about every thing that you want to in wicking beds. The reason I like them is you can go away for a couple of weeks and the plants are still getting watered.
I am about to do my main beds after using an old bath tub and styrene box's to start with. I am going to get some price's on top less tanks 700 wide x 600 Deap and 4 metres long and these will be in my shade house. As they use gravel in aquaculture tanks you can do the same here. I have just put some old weed matting over the gravel to stop the top 400mm of soil mixing with the gravel and clogging it up.
If you want to use plastic and gravel just use styrene box's and cut them up to line the bottom and sides. This will stop the gravel riping the plastic.
just remember the best about this system is that you can go away for awhile, have fun knowing your vegies are getting their daily does of h2O
) 
