Wicking Beds
Types of wicking beds.
Wicking beds. Most of the diy sites for wicking beds focus on building beds that use media a layer in between the soil and the water reservoir as their wick. Wicking beds are a revolutionary way of growing veggies. They help you save time and water while producing lush healthy and unstressed veggies. Wicking beds are a unique and increasingly popular way to grow vegetables.
Wicking beds water plants from below rather than above. The wicking bed how to. A step by step guide. A wicking bed is a self watering raised garden bed and even though the design is a relatively new innovation that is catching the attention of many produce gardeners worldwide it is essentially nothing more than a large scale version of a self watering pot.
Having introduced wicking beds and why they can be a great idea let us get into some details check out the below diagram of a veg style wicking bed and then let s go through each bit step by step in the order we actually install them. A wicking bed has a number of advantages over traditional irrigation system particularly with this ability to self water without the aid of an expensive control timer. Also wicking beds are said to be more effective at sequestering atmospheric carbon than many other traditional types of garden bed set ups meaning it s a win for us and the planet. So let s look at the nuts and bolts of constructing a good functioning wicking bed.
It s basically a container with a water reservoir at its base. Moisture level in the soil is maintained at a constant rate over extended periods. Moisture is drawn up through the soil via a process called capillary action. Reservoirs with media.
And unlike those systems that need to be programmed by a person trying to foresee the plants needs a wicking bed feeds water directly to a plants roots when they require it. They are self contained raised beds with built in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up changing how and how much you water your 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 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.
In this article we ll talk about how wicking beds work and why we love them. This is an easy and cheap way of supporting the soil on top of the reservoir. Wicking beds are raised garden beds with a water reservoir below the level of the soil.