Garden 'wicking beds'

[rprimbs]

 

 

I saw a YouTube video years ago about raised 'wicking beds'.  I tried a couple and they worked great.  The soil never completely dried out.  I just water it from above.

I build the beds out of pressure treated 2x6's.  I put down mesh at the bottom. I line the bed with a pond liner -- that I glue to the sides with construction adhesive, and staple on the top.  Then I put a row of perforated pipe at the bottom as a water reservoir.  Above the perforated pipe, at about six inches I put a hole in one end of the bed with a little piece of pipe, for a drain.  You don't want to 'waterlog' the plants.

I just use regular garden soil in my beds -- screened 'dirt', compost, manure, peat moss.  And I water them from above with drip lines, on an automatic timer.  I use the Rachio 'smart' timer.

I did have a gopher working around my melon bed, and now the soil is dry, and hard.  So the gopher pierced that liner somehow.  I'll fix it after the melons are done.

 

 

 

[teddytn]

On 7/2/2021 at 11:49 AM, rprimbs said:

 

 

I saw a YouTube video years ago about raised 'wicking beds'.  I tried a couple and they worked great.  The soil never completely dried out.  I just water it from above.

I build the beds out of pressure treated 2x6's.  I put down mesh at the bottom. I line the bed with a pond liner -- that I glue to the sides with construction adhesive, and staple on the top.  Then I put a row of perforated pipe at the bottom as a water reservoir.  Above the perforated pipe, at about six inches I put a hole in one end of the bed with a little piece of pipe, for a drain.  You don't want to 'waterlog' the plants.

I just use regular garden soil in my beds -- screened 'dirt', compost, manure, peat moss.  And I water them from above with drip lines, on an automatic timer.  I use the Rachio 'smart' timer.

I did have a gopher working around my melon bed, and now the soil is dry, and hard.  So the gopher pierced that liner somehow.  I'll fix it after the melons are done.

 

 

 

I have quite a few raised beds in my yard. Definitely the way to go with the slope you’ve got going. How’re they working out for you?

[rprimbs]

15 hours ago, teddytn said:

I have quite a few raised beds in my yard. Definitely the way to go with the slope you’ve got going. How’re they working out for you?

They are working well.  We already have some ripe melons, and we've been picking strawberries for months.  We've got a California bred June bearing strawberry called "Chandler".  It does well here.

The melon bed where the gophers chewed through the liner is doing okay, but the wicking beds are doing really well.