Survive Drought with Wicking Beds

[velacreations]

We live in a very dry climate, and all of our water comes from rain catchment. It typically rains from July through October, but the rest of the year is dry. So, we have to be extra careful with our water use, and especially for growing food, we look to increase our water efficiency as much as possible.

The wicking bed has been a revolution for us. Not only does it use less water and increase productivity, it reduces work, needing no tilling, no weeding, and generally, no maintenance. During the severe drought of 2011, we found that our wicking beds needed about 1/2 gallon per square foot per week. Compared to our normal garden beds, we saved about 5 gallons per square foot per week! That is a HUGE difference.

Our wicking beds thrived through the drought (as you can see from the photo above), where the rest of the garden was suffering, even though it was receiving more water.

The wicking bed concept is very simple. Create a reservoir of water below the soil, and water from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. This reduces evaporation losses and helps to maintain a balanced soil moisture level. Your plants will love it!

Here's how we built our wicking beds using cheap materials:
http://velacreations.com/food/plants/annuals/item/108-wicking-bed.html

We are slowly converting our entire garden to wicking beds:
http://velacreations.com/blog/item/351-more-wicking.html

 

[Denim Deb]

Neat idea for hot, dry climates.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wonderful idea!

 

[~gd]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8294/7551188644_7892548710.jpg

We live in a very dry climate, and all of our water comes from rain catchment. It typically rains from July through October, but the rest of the year is dry. So, we have to be extra careful with our water use, and especially for growing food, we look to increase our water efficiency as much as possible.

The wicking bed has been a revolution for us. Not only does it use less water and increase productivity, it reduces work, needing no tilling, no weeding, and generally, no maintenance. During the severe drought of 2011, we found that our wicking beds needed about 1/2 gallon per square foot per week. Compared to our normal garden beds, we saved about 5 gallons per square foot per week! That is a HUGE difference.

Our wicking beds thrived through the drought (as you can see from the photo above), where the rest of the garden was suffering, even though it was receiving more water.

The wicking bed concept is very simple. Create a reservoir of water below the soil, and water from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. This reduces evaporation losses and helps to maintain a balanced soil moisture level. Your plants will love it!

Here's how we built our wicking beds using cheap materials:
http://velacreations.com/food/plants/annuals/item/108-wicking-bed.html

We are slowly converting our entire garden to wicking beds:
http://velacreations.com/blog/item/351-more-wicking.html

Sorry but I looked at your website and must ask what the gravel is for? do you have hardpan that prevents water supplied to the gravel from going down to subsoil? We had natural clay that would store tons of water when damp but not release any when it dried out. We put our beds on that and supplied water with buried "soaker" hose about half way between the clay and the surface. Since you could see nothing from above we used indicator plants that would wilt with lack of moisture but recover quickly with moisture.[I also tried a moisture probe but the plants were less work and more accurate] Come home from my job, check the plants, turn on water if wilted, Set timer {I sometimes forgot that the water was on] Supper, turn off water. Much better than top watering, no more cracked tomatoes, no mildew or scab [no water on plant tops to stay damp overnight] The oly time the sprinkler was used was to cool off the kids, dogs, and me when the weather was really hot and if we had water to spare. Yup botton up watering is the best! `~gd

 

[velacreations]

Sorry but I looked at your website and must ask what the gravel is for? do you have hardpan that prevents water supplied to the gravel from going down to subsoil? We had natural clay that would store tons of water when damp but not release any when it dried out. We put our beds on that and supplied water with buried "soaker" hose about half way between the clay and the surface. Since you could see nothing from above we used indicator plants that would wilt with lack of moisture but recover quickly with moisture.[I also tried a moisture probe but the plants were less work and more accurate] Come home from my job, check the plants, turn on water if wilted, Set timer {I sometimes forgot that the water was on] Supper, turn off water. Much better than top watering, no more cracked tomatoes, no mildew or scab [no water on plant tops to stay damp overnight] The oly time the sprinkler was used was to cool off the kids, dogs, and me when the weather was really hot and if we had water to spare. Yup botton up watering is the best! `~gd

The gravel creates a water reservoir under the plant soil. so basically, it is to create a space to fill with water.

If you look at the page, we use vinyl tarps to create the pan and prevent water from leaving.

We live on clay, as well, but found that creating a space under high quality soil worked better than soaking the clay.

 

[~gd]

Sorry but I looked at your website and must ask what the gravel is for? do you have hardpan that prevents water supplied to the gravel from going down to subsoil? We had natural clay that would store tons of water when damp but not release any when it dried out. We put our beds on that and supplied water with buried "soaker" hose about half way between the clay and the surface. Since you could see nothing from above we used indicator plants that would wilt with lack of moisture but recover quickly with moisture.[I also tried a moisture probe but the plants were less work and more accurate] Come home from my job, check the plants, turn on water if wilted, Set timer {I sometimes forgot that the water was on] Supper, turn off water. Much better than top watering, no more cracked tomatoes, no mildew or scab [no water on plant tops to stay damp overnight] The oly time the sprinkler was used was to cool off the kids, dogs, and me when the weather was really hot and if we had water to spare. Yup botton up watering is the best! `~gd

The gravel creates a water reservoir under the plant soil. so basically, it is to create a space to fill with water.

If you look at the page, we use vinyl tarps to create the pan and prevent water from leaving.

We live on clay, as well, but found that creating a space under high quality soil worked better than soaking the clay.

OK I missed the tarps and I don't consider gravel to be a good wicker, It was never my intent to water the clay that was why the soaker hose in my system was half way between the clay and the surface. The intent was to water the compost rich soil of the beds. The clay did store water from the rainy seasons and gave up the water to the surface but very slowly not fast enough for good growth.~gd

 

[velacreations]

OK I missed the tarps and I don't consider gravel to be a good wicker, It was never my intent to water the clay that was why the soaker hose in my system was half way between the clay and the surface. The intent was to water the compost rich soil of the beds. The clay did store water from the rainy seasons and gave up the water to the surface but very slowly not fast enough for good growth.~gd

The gravel isn't the wicker, the high compost soil on top of it is. The gravel just supports the weight of the soil and gives space to store water under the surface. It's basically a huge self-watering planter.

 

[~gd]

OK I missed the tarps and I don't consider gravel to be a good wicker, It was never my intent to water the clay that was why the soaker hose in my system was half way between the clay and the surface. The intent was to water the compost rich soil of the beds. The clay did store water from the rainy seasons and gave up the water to the surface but very slowly not fast enough for good growth.~gd

The gravel isn't the wicker, the high compost soil on top of it is. The gravel just supports the weight of the soil and gives space to store water under the surface. It's basically a huge self-watering planter.

OK I am dumb today so how does the water from the tarp reach the soil? did you forget to mention that the soil is mixed with the gravel? If the gravel does not wick the system will not work.All my house plants [except those that hate wet roots] are on a wick system i don't consider them self watering but they can go for a week before rhe reservore needs watering. ~gd

 

[velacreations]

OK I am dumb today so how does the water from the tarp reach the soil? did you forget to mention that the soil is mixed with the gravel? If the gravel does not wick the system will not work.All my house plants [except those that hate wet roots] are on a wick system i don't consider them self watering but they can go for a week before rhe reservore needs watering. ~gd

The soil is on top of the gravel, not mixed with it. The gravel is the reservoir. Yes, the gravel wicks some moisture up, but the plant roots come down into that layer, as well.

The system works, we have gone through several summers with it outproducing regular beds, and many people use this system, especially in dry climate areas. The system was developed in Australia.

They are self watering in that you don't need to water on a daily basis. Yes, you do need to top up the reservoir every week or so.

 

[Hinotori]

It's the same as the Earthboxes or the other self watering planters, just enlarged very much. The gravel just holds the water and keeps the soil up above. It's a great idea for dry climates.