When it gets hot and believe me, it gets really hot and dry here in the Adelaide Hills
I need to water my veggies daily, if not more to get them to survive.
Now, that's a bit of a challenge when I'm busy working or off traveling,
so I've got a way that I can grow veggies and get them to survive on just once a week watering...
even in the hottest weather.
Now I'm doing this using wicking beds
I've made wicking beds before out of old apple crates
But the challenge with them is they have a limited life
The new style of working bed I'm building is out of intermediate bulk containers
known as IBCs
These are purchased from my local transport company
for about a hundred and fifty dollars each, but I get two beds out of them
It's important to know the history of use of your container. These are food grade plastic
They've been used to transport olive oil or wine and not chemicals
and best of all they're gonna last a really long time.
First off cut the IBC in half.
Now to do this I'm using an angle grinder which creates quite a few sparks
so make sure you use the proper safety equipment.
The angle grinder cuts through both the metal frame and the plastic but it's a bit fiddly and it takes a bit of time
Once you've separated the two halves
Undo the screws that hold the metal cage to the plastic tank
This enables me to turn the cage upside down
So the sharp cut edges are facing down and the top edge is nice and smooth and isn't a hazard
Now this is half of what I've just cut, it still needs to be rinsed and I need to level it and the other half
still in the shed need some more work on the frame, but this one's leveled ready to go
First off you need to put an overflow point in.
In my previous wicking beds
I've done it where the soil layer joins the reservoir layer
But what I've actually found is by putting it right down the bottom it gives you more flexibility
I've used proper irrigation fittings and silicon them in that's gonna give me longevity
and makes sure that this doesn't leak
and then by adding this elbow it gives me the ability to be able to drain all
the water out of the reservoir layer if I want to
...say in the middle of winter.
When it's upright it drains at the normal overflow point
Cover the base with a thin layer of scoria
Now I'm adding the inlet pipe
It's simply a piece of PVC pipe cut to length
and I've slotted it into some agricultural drain
That slotted pipe... and what this does
is allow the water to come out evenly in the bottom of the reservoir layer
I'm securing it in place with a couple of bricks.
I'll take them out once I fill it properly.
Finish filling the reservoir layer with scoria to cover the 'ag' pipe and level it off
Make sure you leave about thirty centimeters above the top of the scoria, so the soil layer can wick properly.
In between the scoria and the soil I'll put down a sheet
of geotextile fabric and that will stop the soil from going down and clogging the reservoir layer
For the soil mix I'm using a blend of good organic soil and compost
The wicking action will only work properly if there's a high proportion of organic matter
and now it's finally full I can have some fun planting
I'm actually gonna plant some repeat harvest lettuces
and they love being kept moist and so they're perfect for wicking beds
Once I've planted the lettuces
you need to fill the reservoir
and how you know when it's full, is it will flow out of the overflow point.
As well as that you need to thoroughly saturate the soil
from above first off
and I would be aware that with young plants for the first couple of weeks
I'd still water from above because sometimes their root systems are too small to be able to start the wicking process properly.
Then once established, most plants will tolerate just a top up about once a week in summer.
How you know when to top up is simply to look in the overflow point
and if the water has run out, you know you need to fill the reservoir.
Now obviously we need to mulch just like we would in the garden
to stop the top of the soil from drying out.
I'm also going to put some wooden boards on them. This insulates the bed but it also makes them look nicer.
I've still got several more wicking beds to make,
but why don't you have a go at making a wicking bed from an IBC?
It's a great way to grow veggies in a hot dry climate.
Happy wicking!