Wicking Beds

 In our dry climate, nothing makes more sense than a wicking bed. For those that don't know what one is, it's a garden planter/pot that is entirely closed (no drainage holes) and the water is put directly into the base of the pot and the soil "wicks" the moisture up. A physical barrier prevents the soil from mixing into the water at the base. This link to a Gardening Australia youtube clip is how we've made ours.

We've made a few with this design but have used different materials for the base and the barrier, but have always made them from IBC's. They are a great design as one pod (IBC) makes two wicking beds which are a good size for a garden bed. We made one at the beginning of 2020 for Chloe (who is not a gardener) to have some herbs in - the herbs did very well so when we came back to visit early this year, we made another and planted it up. For these ones we used blue metal off the side of the road. One bed we used geotech fabric and the other we used some shade cloth. Both had compost as the soil component.

Oregano, basil, chilli, chives marjoram

This one includes basil, eggplant, zucchini and cucumbers. I did put some beans in as well, but they got a little overgrown. You can fit quite a few plants in them.

Recently we made some out at Aramac. We used red pebbly rock for the base, and two beds had geotech fabric, one had hessian bag and another had some old shade cloth as the barrier. We used soil from the yards and it's now over a month since they were made and the plants look amazing! I haven't taken recent photos, but everything is growing really well and I've been eating mizuna and tatsoy. The rest of the plants are flowering.

We use an angle grinder to cut the IBC in half. One half doesn't have a very good base so it's best to sit on a pallet.

You can buy this drain pipe in a roll and it will do several pods. I made some wicking beds in foam boxes while in Canberra. You don't need rock for them, just a section of this pipe laid in a zigzag pattern the base of the box is enough, with the geotech fabric over the top and then soil on top of that.

It wasn't easy getting enough pebble, so we used some big rocks and although they take up space that water could take up, they seem to be working pretty well. I think I've filled the reservoirs up twice in 6 weeks. The drain pipe is coiled around and then the rock is put in. We use a piece of poly pipe as the upright to fill through, but you could just extend the pipe up the side of the pod.

Once the rock is all level, a layer of geotech fabric (or shade cloth or some other item suitable to allow water through, but not soil) is laid over before filling with soil.

This area of the State is called the Desert Uplands. The soil is sandy and so I used soil from the cattle yards which includes a little manure. 

I added in some chook manure and hay to add some fertility.

Planted up - this closest bed has zucchini seedlings, which are now flowering (6 weeks later).

I had planted out some seeds in preparation for building these wicking beds, but I had a little room so I did plant some bean and kale seeds in one. I watered the beds for a week or so after planting just to make sure the seedlings and seeds established well and to help the soil get moist and stay moist. It really only took a couple of part days to make these beds up and the only maintenance is filling the water reservoir occasionally and adding some fertiliser either once a year for herbs or whenever you change over the plants that are growing. I'm not sure what the life span is for a wicking bed made out of one of these pods, but I'd imagine that they'll last many years. 

You can pretty the pods up by lining the outside with timber or even sheets of tin for a rustic look, but I don't really mind the look of these as they are. I'll include another link for a design I came across recently from Limestone Permaculture.