All about wicking beds

Wicking beds are a great way to grow vegetables in any area where rainfall is intermittent or where there is competition from larger plants (like big gum trees) that make it all but impossible to establish a vegetable garden in the ground.

A wicking bed looks similar to any other raised garden bed - the difference is that it is waterproof on the base and up the sides. Much like a pond, except that there is an outflow pipe a little way up the side so it doesn't flood if it rains a lot.

Wicking beds work on the same principle as 'self watering pots', which have a reservoir at the base of the pot. The difference is that wicking beds can be any shape and size you want, especially if you make your own, and they have a larger, more effective reservoir inside. If you make your own, they are a lot cheaper than a self watering pot too! Mosquitoes can also be kept to a minimum as you can ensure there's no access for insects, unlike regular self watering pots.

Because the soil in the bed isn't actually in contact with the surrounding soil, you can grow water loving hungry vegetables in places you wouldn't normally be able to - saving space, and integrating yields into established ornamental gardens. You can even grow good yields on top of concrete! In our garden we have several beds close to a very large gum tree. The tree takes a lot of moisture out of the soil, so only certain plants can thrive. But with the wicking beds we are able to grow heaps of vegetables in the same area!

​​Click here to download a pdf with instructions on making your own wicking bed

The pictures here show some of the different wicking beds we have made:

Buy a wicking bed from us

If you don't have the time or materials to make your own bed, we offer two different types of wicking beds for sale. Both use recycled food grade containers to do our bit for the environment and give your vegetables a boost! See options below:

To order - call Cally on 0410 121 272 or email Canberrapermaculturedesign (at) gmail.com
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We make to order and can customise beds to your requirements (e.g. number of outlet holes, and whether you need extra fittings) so please allow one or two weeks' lead-in time before they are ready. 

Converted IBC beds (from $185)

 Converted barrel beds (from $69)

Converted IBC Beds

IBCs are used to freight 1 cubic metre of liquids around the world on container ships. The plastic tub is surrounded by a sturdy steel cage. Reusing IBCs is a great way to reduce waste.

But it can be daunting to buy a whole IBC because you will need an angle grinder to cut through the steel cage and then you need to cut through the plastic and drill your holes in the right places. Cutting through the plastic with a jigsaw, angle grinder (or by hand) also generates a lot of small plastic dust so there's a big clean up operation involved to avoid getting microplastics all over your garden! (We learned this the hard way! We have now invested in a special set of shears that cuts the plastic without leaving any bits of plastic to clean up - yay!) 

To save you the trouble, we can provide ready to use half IBC beds with all fittings. Please note we only use food grade IBCs so you can be assured of no nasty chemical residue in your garden bed.

Each IBC bed comes with the following:

• Top or bottom half of IBC (approximately 1 square metre growing space)
• Food grade silicon used on lids to ensure no leaks (top half only)
• Length of slotted agi pipe (Australian manufactured, 100% recycled product)
• Section of geotextile (we use black UV stabilised polypropylene fabric for long life)
• Flexible inlet pipe (Australian manufactured - we use the flexible one because it allows you to bend it easily to where you want it to go)
• 32mm outlet hole (fits up to 25mm (1 inch) tank outlet fittings) - we provide one outlet hole and one overflow hole as standard, but please indicate if you would like extra holes (e.g. if you plan to plumb tanks together) and we can easily do this for no extra cost.
• 25mm tank outlet fitting(s) (optional extra - great for connecting beds together, but if you don't need to do this you can save a bit of money. Or you can buy your own and save a couple of dollars!).

​Important safety note: we take a bit of extra time and do our best to file and hammer down any sharp edges of the steel cages of our IBC beds but we can't guarantee there won't be a few sharp edges left - please be careful when handling! As an extra precaution, we also cut out the middle section of the cage, meaning the plastic insert is higher than the cage, so there are no pointy metal ends sticking up to catch your arm on when reaching into the garden bed. Note that some sellers cut the cage and then turn it upside down - we experimented with this but it results in a much flimsier cage surrounding the bed, especially on top halves. Our approach instead is to retain the strength of the original cage, but cut out the middle section to make it safer for you to work with. This approach does mean it takes a little longer for us to make the beds but we think it's a sturdier and safer bed!

Prices

Top half - $185 ($200 with tank fitting)
Base - $195 ($210 with tank fitting)
(Additional 25mm tank fittings $15 each)
$70 delivery (we can fit up to 3 beds in our trailer)

Bulkhead fitting (also called a tank fitting) enables beds to be connected together if you require, meaning all beds can be watered from the same pipe. Extra hole is an additional overflow in case of any blockages.

Bed comes with slotted pipe for reservoir, inlet pipe and geotextile as a barrier between reservoir and growing medium.

Converted barrel beds

Plastic barrels are used to transport 220 litres of liquid around the world on ships - the blue ones pictured here contained organic soy sauce!

While making these barrels is simpler than an IBC, cutting through the barrels is still a bit of a job and very messy too!
To save you time and effort, we cut these in half, drill the holes, make handles with quality sisal rope, and provide all fittings (tank outlet fitting is an optional extra).
The resulting bed has a capacity of over 100 litres - about the same as a half wine barrel, but at a considerably lower price! And of course, it's a water wise wicking bed with fittings too. If you're not sure how much you can grow in one, see the picture at the bottom of the page - it's very much about the soil, and as you can see, things really can go gangbusters in wicking beds!

​Note: we only use straight sided drums as pictured above. These can be used to make two leak-proof beds. From experience, we learned that the drums with larger lids are very hard to seal and make watertight, plus their tapered bases mean the reservoirs are not as big. We only use food grade barrels for our wicking beds.

Each barrel bed comes with the following:

• Top or bottom half of barrel, 45 cm tall by 55cm diameter (about 1/4 square metre of growing space)
• Food grade silicon used on bungs to ensure no leaks (top half only)
• Length of slotted agi pipe (Australian manufactured, 100% recycled product)
• Section of geotextile (we use black, UV stabilised polypropylene fabric for long life)
• Flexible inlet pipe (Australian manufactured - we use the flexible one because it allows you to bend it easily to where you want it to go)
• 32mm outlet hole (fits up to 25mm (1 inch) tank outlet fittings) - we provide one outlet hole and one overflow hole as standard, but please indicate if you would like extra holes (e.g. if you plan to plumb your barrels together) and we can easily do this for no extra cost.
• 25mm tank outlet fitting(s) (optional extra - great for connecting beds together, but if you don't need to do this you can save a bit of money. Or you can buy your own and save a couple of dollars!).

Prices

Half barrel bed $69 ($84 with 25mm tank fitting)
(Additional 25mm tank fittings $15 each or 20mm fittings $13 each)
$70 delivery (up to 10)

Fittings for the bed (tank outlet is an optional extra).

View into the empty barrel - it's a good size!

So the snowpeas are looking pretty happy!