When we first moved onto our property one of the first things we did was set up some gardens in front of the shed. Using wooden pine edging we made raised gardens and started planting them. At first they worked well but as time went on they started to rot away and were falling apart. They were also very hard to work in as we couldn’t reach the middle without getting in the gardens to weed. We wanted to change our gardens but we weren’t quite sure what to do instead.
Then one day while watching one of our favourite shows (Gardening Australia) we saw someone making wicking beds and decided that this was the new way to go.
Our wicking beds are made from IBCs that we cut in half and scrubbed out thoroughly. Then we placed a layer of gravel in the bottom with some agpipe. After the gravel we put some geo textile fabric down to seperate the gravel from the dirt. As the soil wasn’t very good quality we topdressed it with compost, blood and bone, sulphate of potash, dolomite and aged chicken manure.
Now we have started planting them, filling them with lettuce, cabbage, carrots, beetroots and plenty more veggie goodness. The main advantages of the wicking beds is that they require less watering and they are easy to weed and easy to access. We will keep you posted as to how this goes.
Gracemere Farmstead 