In a jam packed episode Jon shares some tips for a wicking garden, crunchy winter biscuit recipe, overview of the Colac Otway Shire Hard Rubbish survey and Jonathan chats to the local Rotary Club about their community collection project.
Shire survey link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/coshardwaste
Wicking Beds
Wicking beds are a unique and increasingly popular way to grow vegetables. 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
How Wicking Beds Work
A wick works from the bottom up - If you think of a kerosine lantern where you fill up the base with kero and then add a wick so the kero soaks up to allow the wick to ignite. However a better way perhaps to show how it works is if you have a glass of water and put a tissue in it, the water seeps up the tissue but doesnt get quite to the top. You can use many materials; cotton, wool, geo-textile, soil, and gravel as wicking properties.
Advantages of Wicking Beds
Wicking beds have a lot of advantages over standard raised beds because they are water-efficient! Watering from the bottom up prevents evaporation of surface water They are self-watering! 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. A full wicking bed should irrigate itself for about a week. They can be placed close to the house without risk of flooding your basement, since the water is contained in the bed.
No evaporation means no salting of soil. If you are watering your soils from the top with hard water, you risk accumulating salts, because the water evaporates and leaves the minerals behind. Eventually your soil will struggle to support plant life. They provide a lot of drainage in the event of a large downpour. Since they're raised, they will warm up quicker in the spring. You can easily attach cold frames to them. They are great for people with less mobility and strength as you don't have to haul heavy water containers.
Disadvantages of Wicking Beds
Wicking beds do have some disadvantages as well: the main one is they cost more to install.
There are lots of different types of wicki boxes, which can be obtained from Hardware stores, nurserys and some agricultral companies and of course what you want to grow, how much room you have will determine the size you need and most come with a false bottom that will allow the soil to be suspended above the water reservoir.
Design Considerations Reservoirs
When designing your wicking bed, it is important to keep the depth of the media-filled water reservoir at or below 300mm (1ft) as the capillary action...
