Canberra Permaculture Design
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All about wicking beds



Wicking beds are a great way to grow vegetables in any area with hot, dry summers 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.

Wicking beds work on the same principle as 'self watering’ pots - they are watered from underneath as well as above. The difference is that the reservoir in a wicking bed usually larger and often filled with gravel to help with the wicking action. Wicking beds are often much larger too, offering a viable alternative to standard raised beds for growing your vegetables.

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 or underneath gum trees! In our garden we have several beds close to a very large gum tree.

Watch our video series on making an IBC wicking bed!

Ever since they featured on an episode of Gardening Australia, wicking beds made from intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) have been gaining in popularity. The (slightly cheesy) video series below explains we make our IBC wicking beds, with handy some tips and tricks if you would like to try it yourself!

If you would like to buy a wicking bed from us, please scroll to bottom of page for details!

Video 1. All about IBCs.

A quick tour of an intermediate bulk container (IBC). IBCs can be made into very durable wicking garden beds.
Video 2. Two ways to cut an IBC in half
Cally explains the pros and cons of different cutting methods.
Video 3. How we cut IBCs in half
A time lapse including tools we use and safety equipment.
Video 4. Filing down sharp edges
A time lapse showing filing down the cut ends of the cage.
Video 5. Top halves vs base halves
There are definite differences between the two halves of an IBC. Note that we do try to get people matching halves when we can!
Video 6. Components in a wicking bed
An overview of the piping, geotextile and outlet holes.
Video 7. Drilling outlet holes and fittings
A quick look at the best location to put your outlet hole and what kind of fittings you can use. Includes fittings to join beds together.

VIDEO COMING SOON!!!

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Video 8. Filling up an IBC bed
Watch as we put together and fill our latest IBC wicking bed in our garden. Features laying the piping, filling and testing reservoir, geotextile and soil.

VIDEO COMING SOON!!!

​​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 customise beds to your requirements: we drill the outlet holes where you want them to be, and can drill extra outlets if you want to join several beds together for convenient watering.

** COVID-19 UPDATE **

We offer contactless payment and pick up/delivery so you can purchase safely.

Converted IBC beds (from $195)

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)
  • 5m length of 100mm 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)
  • One outlet hole with fitting to fit 25mm piping comes as standard. Additional outlets (if you want to connect beds together and water all beds at once) can be drilled and fitted for $10 each. We can also supply connector piping for a small extra cost.
  • Pre drilled overflow drainage hole (no fittings)

​Important safety note: we take a bit of extra time and do our best to file 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. Some sellers cut the cage and then turn it upside down - we experimented with this but it makes it much harder to transport. Our approach retains the strength of the original cage, while making it safer for you to work with and move around. This approach means it takes a little longer for us to make the beds but we think it's a sturdier and safer bed!

Prices

Top half - $195 
Base half - $260

Additional outlets are $10 each / connector piping is $5 per 30cm length
$70 delivery (we can fit up to 3 beds in our trailer)

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

 Converted barrel beds (from $69)

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 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 barrels!

​Note: we only use straight sided drums as pictured above. Beds can be a bottom or a top half (the latter have two small sealed bungs in the base). 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)
  • Outlet hole finished with top hat grommet (can be fitted with 25mm irrigation barb if connecting beds together)

Prices

Half barrel bed $69 
$70 delivery (up to 8)

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Fittings for the bed (tank outlet is an optional extra).
Picture
View into the empty barrel - it's a good size!
Picture
So the snowpeas are looking pretty happy!
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