How To Make A Wicking Bed

[Ozzy420]

Very nice Brownies, and love that u using old skool tools.

 

Nice lil tute.

[brownies]

This is a great tutorial. I want to do a bed next year and this is perfect. From some reading ive done if the soil moisture is kept at a consistent level unlike hand watering so you get optimum growth from what your growing. Brilliant.

 

Thanks GBG I've never had tomatoes grow as well or as quickly as they did in these wicking beds. Unfortunately I don't have photos of how big they got but they were the best I've ever had. Glad you enjoyed the tutorial

[brownies]

Cheers Brownie, great post

 

I made a couple of wicking beds last year - unfortunately I can't grow canna in them (visibility) but they do work well!  The second bed is only bare because I spend all my gardening time tending the canna plants

 

The inside of mine is identical except I used pond liner.

 

With absolutely no effort on my behalf, this tomato and basil plant are kicking ass!  Much healthier looking than veggies usually at this time of year coping with multiple 40 degree plus days.  I haven't even mulched it!

 

A nice bonus is the complete absence of weeds as the surface is pretty much dry.

 

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Thanks crowsange

 

Those are beauties! Love the corrugated metal I only used timber because I had most of it lying around.

 

I was going to use pond liner but it's a bit pricier - although I believe it's thicker. I've had issues in the past with the builders plastic tearing which basically defeats the whole point of the box. Might try pond liner on the next ones.

 

I live inner-city so visibility is an issue for me too however I'm trying to nut-out a good way to incorporate wicking beds into an indoor grow. I'll let ya know if I come up with something

 

Cheers,

Brownies

[brownies]

The wife has been talking about wicking beds for our veggies aswell so I have a few months to trial out these beds before I build my ones out bush. Can't wait to have a play. Worst thing is going to try and camouflage the beds out bush or burying them or at least the bottom section below the over flow

 

Make sure to post some pictures of your beds once you build them! Would love to see them As for the camouflage, I suppose you could paint the boxes green and then pile up bushes around them so you can't see them. But you'd know better than I would, I don't grow out bush Hope you have some fun playing around with them though

[brownies]

Very nice Brownies, and love that u using old skool tools.

 

Nice lil tute.

 

Thanks Ozzy

 

Yeh love me ol' bit and brace Can't beat old tools!

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Thanks for putting that up Brownies, good stuff.  Been thinking about putting up a raised bed for a couple of things in the backyard for a while now, reckon this will be how I do it, won't be able to grow canna in it though , would definitely be the go for some vegies.

 

I tried an extremely dodgy variation on this  on a smaller scale in the bush couple of years ago, except in the ground.  Big problem in hindsight was not having an overflow built in to the system, and then it rained .  For guerilla stealth you need that sort of thing under ground ideally, just need to figure out a way to incorporate an overflow, suppose you could run a hose out if you did it on a slope maybe?  Give it some thought Torrie and let us all know what you come up with.

[brownies]

Thanks for putting that up Brownies, good stuff.  Been thinking about putting up a raised bed for a couple of things in the backyard for a while now, reckon this will be how I do it, won't be able to grow canna in it though , would definitely be the go for some vegies.

 

I tried an extremely dodgy variation on this  on a smaller scale in the bush couple of years ago, except in the ground.  Big problem in hindsight was not having an overflow built in to the system, and then it rained .  For guerilla stealth you need that sort of thing under ground ideally, just need to figure out a way to incorporate an overflow, suppose you could run a hose out if you did it on a slope maybe?  Give it some thought Torrie and let us all know what you come up with.

 

Thanks SPH As you've probably gathered by now, I would encourage everyone to garden this way! They're just great for growing - good for the plants, good for the water bill and environment and good for your canna because you don't need to spend as much time watering your veggies

 

Yeah not having an overflow would be like trying DWC without an air pump and airstones... nothin like drowning roots

 

As for guerrilla growing you could always dig a square-ish hole to drop the box in and dig a 'leg' off the hole for where the overflow pipe sticks out of the box. That way the box would be in the ground yet the overflow valve would have a little clearing for the water to come out and for you to monitor when you've filled the reservoir.

 

Hard to describe but you would dig a hole in the shape below to the depth of your box (600mm). Drop your box in the main hole with overflow pointing into the little leg to the left side. Back fill around your now buried box but leave the bit around the overflow. That way you can simply put bush or a small plank covered in leaves over that small leg to hide it and simply lift it up when you need to fill the res and monitor when the water coming out. The water that comes out of the overflow won't be obstructed and will simply pour out into the dirt below.

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Just a thought. Hope it made sense

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Yeah, makes sense, I also had the thought of some sort of indicator device to show when full, but it would still need an overflow option for after heavy rain.  An underground hose for a few metres coming out under a bush or something would be fine on a reasonable slope, but could be a problem on flat sites.  My spots are up near ridgelines in the hills and would cater to that, but the pics I've seen in Torrie's posts look a bit flatter, so that could be a more difficult problem to solve.

 

That builders plastic is good cheap stuff, but I would look to double or triple layer the stuff as it does hole reasonably easy.  I have used it to line holes, but eventually tree roots break through it, so you would still need a layer of something solid in a hole in the bush for this to work.  I reckon for a bush version those old school plastic bins would be good to bury, light enough to carry in (wouldn't want to be seen though), watertight and good size for 1 big plant.  A lot of work to set up, but if you treated the soil right between grows you should be able to get a few years out of each.  You'd want some easy to dig soil to bury em though.

[torrietree]

I'll hopefully report back in about 6 months with my set up

[brownies]

Yeah, makes sense, I also had the thought of some sort of indicator device to show when full, but it would still need an overflow option for after heavy rain.  An underground hose for a few metres coming out under a bush or something would be fine on a reasonable slope, but could be a problem on flat sites.  My spots are up near ridgelines in the hills and would cater to that, but the pics I've seen in Torrie's posts look a bit flatter, so that could be a more difficult problem to solve.

 

That builders plastic is good cheap stuff, but I would look to double or triple layer the stuff as it does hole reasonably easy.  I have used it to line holes, but eventually tree roots break through it, so you would still need a layer of something solid in a hole in the bush for this to work.  I reckon for a bush version those old school plastic bins would be good to bury, light enough to carry in (wouldn't want to be seen though), watertight and good size for 1 big plant.  A lot of work to set up, but if you treated the soil right between grows you should be able to get a few years out of each.  You'd want some easy to dig soil to bury em though.

 

Yeah I've had one that got a hole in it - not an easy repair when the box is filled to the brim with soil. I haven't tried pond liner but apparently that's a fair bit thicker and more durable. Ultimately you'd want a container that is already water proof like a bin as you said. I've been looking at making smaller wicking beds for indoors as a sort of feature pot - I was thinking of making them out of solid timber board and then waterproofing the inside with Neverwet, that way they don't need any plastic and they're completely sealed. A plastic bin seems like the right way to go for guerrilla growing though.