Self Watering Wicking Garden Bed

Wicking garden beds are the ultimate self watering garden they water the plants from below and you can easily build one yourself.

Self watering wicking garden bed.

Our raised cypress garden beds or instant veggie crates are also the ideal container for wicking projects. Think of them as a giant self watering plant pot. I can t keep silent any longer. We look at a simple design that shows how to build a diy wicking garden bed using second hand galvanised iron tanks.

The self watering planter boxes themselves were gorgeous they kept rabbits and other critters from munching on the greens and we went for weeks on end without having to water. Building sip raised beds. The results of the diy self watering system were amazing. Crates tanks baths troughs and drums can all be used to create a wicking bed.

There are commercial raised wicking beds self watering containers and container gardens on the market which are convenient for those who want instant gratification but for those of us on a. 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. Self watering pots have been around for decades and are based o the principle of sub irrigation where the water supply sits below the. The basic design is for a 50 cm high garden.

A full wicking bed should irrigate itself for. Simply line the bottom of your container or bed with the pipes allowing a little space for wicking medium potting soil to be squeezed in. Self watering wicking bed design principles. Water is drawn up into the soil via capillary action from a reservoir in the bottom of the wicking bed.

I ve grown tired of incomplete or even faulty tutorials. I typically allow 1 2 inch to 1 inch max space between each pipe. Its easy its cheap and works. After years of testing i m ready to share the most important elements that every self watering wicking bed needs to have in it.

Watering from the bottom up prevents evaporation of surface water which occurs when you water beds from the top. Wicking worm beds are similar to raised vegetable garden beds. They were developed by colin austin a retired engineer living in queensland australia. Make a wicking barrel self watering garden bed a wicking barrel or wicking bed is a great way to garden in both a water and nutrient efficient and responsible way.

Wicking worm beds have built in water tanks located below the soil and built in worm farms where the worms have access to the whole of the growing area as well as the worm farm itself. In self watering garden planters the perforated drain pipes are very easy to use and are quite adaptable to a variety of sizes.