Raised Wicking Veggie Bed Thread - with photos

Still better than watering 4 times a day The water savings to produce that food and then as a result reduced nutrients required would be very significant indeed.

Thank you KerryF

DiasySparkle18, we dug down into the ground with the shorter beds, so in effect the water reservoir depth is almost the same as for the larger bed.

Colin Austin from http://www.wickingbed.com/ and http://www.waterright.com.au/ has mentioned the optimal soil depth is up to 30cm, and that he's made beds with a reservoir of 20cm which have worked well. If you read the green text on this page, it explains it: http://www.theruralindependent.com/garden-projects/wicking-beds

Great thanks. Will have a good read.

Oops, I did mean DaisySparkle, not DiasySparkle
Typing too quickly again...

Ah, looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Just wondering if builder's plasitc is durable enough as a liner. We have some ****** around after our renno so I hope it is.

1sthome, we used the orange 200 micron plastic from the local hardware. So far it's holding up well - the beds are coming up to six months old now.

Today's tomato harvest - 3 Kgs

Loving this

I just love this thread, and was all set to build intall a wicking system in my 3 vegie beds this weekend, BUT, I was talking to a lady at the Melbourne Garden Show last week who said that the soil at the very top doesn't seem to stay as damp as it probably should to enable seed germination and happy root development?? The soil deeper down is more moist as it is closer to the water catchment area....

I'd love some opinions on this please Lonnie, and anyone else who has this system in place.

Thanks

Hey DaisySparkle,

I generally raise seedlings in soil blocks and then transplant them into the wicking beds, but I have sown seeds directly as well.

After transplanting something I water it in, and then water it directly again a couple of days later (if there hasn't been any rain). I keep an eye on the new transplants and seedlings to make sure they don't dry out before their roots become established. I've done the same with direct sowing of asian veggies as seeds, and they've germinated well.

So it's not just 'plant and forget' - but keeping an eye on things and giving them a bit of a water from on top if they need it to get established.

If you have a layer of mulch there isn't that much evaporation from the bed, and the soil at the top of our beds appears to be moist enough under that mulch. Our soil depth is about 25 cm.

Having the water source down below does encourage the roots to grow down. I've just cleared out the tomato bed, and the roots were incredibly long and widespread.

I too am bumping this thread because it is so good

Thanks Fu.

If anyone is interested in the soil blocker, here is a pic:



They come in various sizes. This one makes 4 blocks of 50mm each time.
I've just bought a Maxi 1 which makes 100mm blocks. Each block has a 50mm block indentation so the smaller blocks can be inserted in the top of the Maxi blocks.

I couldn't find a current Australian supplier ( see http://www.allsun.com.au/Blockers.html ) and ended up getting the soil blockers from the UK:
http://www.blackberrylane.co.uk/ladbrooke.html

If you were handy, though, you could make one up at home

Oh, and Fu, when I topped up the beds last weekend I added zeolite, perlite and vermiculite to the mix

I am so glad I saw this thread.
We are having 3 raised vege boxes at about 2.4m in length. Can't wait to get them started. Will be making our own. I can't wait either. Worm farm and compost also.

Those wicking beds are awesome. I'm new to the idea, but saw these photos and I'm sold, straight out, sold! I wanna do this now

I wonder how Lonnie's wicking beds are coming along?

Hello Fu,

They are going pretty well. We grew cauliflower, sprouting broccoli, winter greens, garlic and broad beans over winter. The garlic has just come out, and the tomatoes are taking off.

Our three beds are different sizes, and that's been a bit of an issue when it comes to crop rotation. Plants like the cucumbers, zucchinis and pumpkins need more room to spread out, so when it's time to put them in the smallest bed, I can't grow as many as I'd like. On the other hand, we will be drying and preserving tons of tomatoes this year, since they are in the largest bed.

I will add some current photos when we get a break in the rain.

Cheers.

Photos taken today:



This bed had garlic, spring onions and leeks over winter. It's now the greens and herbs bed (with a few leeks and spring onions remaining).




The lower bed has been planted out with zucchini and cucumbers. There are still some greens in there from winter. The largest bed has the remnants of the dwarf snow peas, along with the new tomatoes, but will be all tomatoes in a couple of weeks.

Soilblockers are now available in Australia at www.soilblocker.com.au - yes I am the owner, i hope this doesn't upset anyone but its all about community, the only reason we decided to become the distributer is because we love em and want to use them ourselves too.