Perth's Guide to Sustainable, Sensible and Ethical Living

www.permaculturewest.org.au
Wicking Beds
Wicking Bed Basics
Water can travel upwards despite gravity thanks to capillary action (wicking).
Use this to our advantage with a wicking bed, a garden bed that has soil and a
reservoir of water underneath the soil.
roble!s in erth
hydrophobic soils
little or no rainfall and high evaporation over su!!er
watering restrictions
poor soils (sand or gravel"clay in hills)
Wicking Beds as a solution
large reservoir of water reduces need for fre#uent watering
soil re!ains !oist all the ti!e
evaporation reduced with thick !ulching
i!prove soil life " #uality with soil !oisture, cooler conditions, and cycling of
nutrients that would otherwise be leached away.
can be !ade cheaply fro! variety of !aterials
Wicking Bed $esign
flat base, and % !ean flat& (use a level)
appro' ())!! total depth, *))!! soil and *))!! for the water reservoir
Information sheet provided by: +reative +o!!ons , ++-B.-/0
/oil (*))!! deep)
Water reservoir (*))!! deep)
drain
1ill pipe with cap
Slotted pipe
Black U shape is the liner
Green layer is shade cloth or si!ilar porous interface
Red is the wicking bed container.
2ulch here&
Perth's Guide to Sustainable, Sensible and Ethical Living
www.permaculturewest.org.au
width and length of bed to suit available space and practical purposes.
water proof liner for reservoir3 builders plastic, pond liner, or clay
fill pipe3 access for filling, and running length of bed for good water distribution
(speed of filling). Use slotted ag pipe or 4+ pipe with holes etc...
fill reservoir with !aterial that allows for easy water distribution such as blue !etal,
gravel, crushed brick, or even coarse !ulch. 2ulch or other organic !aterials will
break down over ti!e, fine for a test bed but for longer life use so!ething that will
last.
reservoir to soil interface3 use shade cloth, geote'tile, carpet, old sheets etc... 5o
prevent soil !igrating down into reservoir.
/oil should be good #uality organic soil that6s a bit coarse as the water will encourage
a bit of co!paction. 7eep off the beds&
$rainage at the interface. $rain should be protected with a bit of shade cloth to
prevent soil escaping.
+an be built in-ground, above ground, or partial. Use tin, wood, rocks, straw bales,
anything to for! the sides as with any standard raised garden bed. %f in-ground then
consider the drain, if it6s also underground that will work in sandy soils but not in
heavy"clay soils&
8ther oints3
closed wicking beds !ost appropriate for annual veggies
not good for larger root veggies
allow reservoir to co!pletely dry out every now and then
heavy rain not a proble! thanks to drain , no worse than nor!al ground or raised
bed (i.e. e'cess drains away). robably better because nutrients aren6t all leached, end
up in reservoir.
4ariations3
incorporate wor! far!
open wicking beds for larger areas, perennials, and deep rooted veges.
bathtubs (goose neck drain)
8ther 9esources3
er!acultureWest3 http3""www.per!aculturewest.org.au"
9esources section has so!e links to wicking bed pages on the %nternet. :ote3
shadecloth raised beds as shown on one of the links is not reco!!ended for erth
due to hot winds and high evaporation.
Information sheet provided by: +reative +o!!ons , ++-B.-/0