Over the last few mailings, as summer is quickly approaching, I have been talking about how to build layered beds and the importance of watering them. To round that off, I thought I would mention the easiest and oldest watering technique there is – wicking.
Wicking, waters garden beds from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. In essence this is simply done by having a water reservoir at the base of your garden bed. Through capillary action, the water in the reservoir is drawn upwards through the soil, where it is taken up by the plant's roots, up through the stem and into the leaves. Watering beds in this manner has quite a few very practical advantages
- It eliminates the problem of deciding when and how much to water, as the entire system keeps the bed at a hydrated level and as such the plants in a wicking bed can last up to 4 weeks or longer without additional watering, so you don’t need to be spending as much time watering, and you can go away without worrying about your plants
- Surface watering not only requires daily attention, but water coming down from above the plant can flow off the bed, taking good topsoil with it. As well as that, and as we have discussed before, there are plenty of vegetables that become moldy or covered in mildew from having their leaves left wet in summer
- There is no water wastage with wicking
- And most importantly it can increase plant yields and extend flowering and fruiting seasons
I am sure many of you have already looked at making a wicking bed and have been put off by what looks like a very complex procedure. However, there is an Australian company that makes cells that do the wicking job. These cells are modular, so you just get the quantity needed to fit your bed, put them in the bottom and then layer up the bed as normal. Alternatively, you can also buy raised beds with wicking systems already installed
They are located in Sydney and very appropriately are called WaterUps
And to be very transparent, they are my business partners, so I know the system works
Enjoy
Peter