Wicking Garden Beds

A wicking bed is a raised garden bed built over a water reservoir of the same size allowing the plants in the bed to absorb water at a natural rate even if the surrounding soil is dry.

Wicking garden beds. Wicking beds water plants from below rather than above. The reservoir should be no more than 11 inches deep and the planting medium the same. Learn how to make your own wicking beds from recycled plastic ibcs a great way to save water and grow vegies in a hot dry climate. Wicking beds are an especially great system to use in community gardens because they save people from driving every day during hot weeks to water their beds.

They can be placed close to the house without risk of flooding your basement since the water is contained in the bed. The first thing is to create the edging or container the water and soil etc will sit in. This allows moisture to be more evenly distributed through the soil creating better growing conditions for the plants. This bed waters from the bottom up which has many benefits but here are a few key.

Wicking beds are great for situations where watering is infrequent such as community gardens and school gardens where nobody is present over holiday periods to water the garden beds. Less evaporation during watering plants are encouraged to grow deeper roots lower water usage because garden draws up water only when needed this guide will show you the key steps to building your own backyard raised bed garden which needs less frequent watering and encourages deep rooted healthy plants. Wicking beds are an especially great system to use in community gardens because they save people from driving every day during hot weeks to water their beds. This is useful in arid climates areas under water hogging trees and gardens that are destined to wait long periods of time between irrigations.

A full wicking bed should irrigate itself for about a week. In our case this is a raised bed 40 or 60cm high made from cypress macrocarpa timber sleepers yes as a matter of fact we do sell kitsets which come with full instructions we won t bore you with here. The science behind this is that capillary action cannot move water upward more than 11 inches. Create your raised bed.

It s basically a container with a water reservoir at its base. A system devised by australian engineer colin austin wicking garden beds and wicking worm beds are gaining popularity as a wonderfully water wise garden bed alternative. Drawing water from a reservoir below the growing medium wicking beds operate on the concept of capillary action with the soil and plant roots drawing this water upwards as required. The key to this garden is the wicking water system built into the bed.

Moisture is drawn up through the soil via a process called capillary action or wicking. They can be placed close to the house without risking flooding your basement since the water is contained in the bed. The water reservoir in a wicking bed can carry enough water to keep the plants alive for up to several weeks depending on climate season and location.