Thannk you for your kind comment, Kelly. Its nice to know the video is still useful after so many years. We have grown a lot of vegetables in our beds and have started planting another season's promise.
Beautiful design. And it obviously works very well. I will be sharing this clip extensively. Along with RobBob's clips, this is excellent guidance of how to approach the wicking bed opportunity. Four variations I employ to optimize for vertical capillary flow: 1) I favor sand over gravel for bedding the drain pipe. Clean gravel doesn't wick. 2) I forego the fabric separator between the gravel and the soil, opting instead to sleeve the drain pipe to keep the sand out of it. 3) After the sand goes in, I fill with water to the sand level and use that as a guide to level the sand layer. 4) I use sand size biochar in the soil mix to increase capillary flow capacity. The biochar allows me to use a little deeper soil, approaching 20 inches (0.5 meters), because I can count on the water wicking faster, higher. Going from gravel to sand, removing the fabric separator, these two changes increase the risk of anaerobic soil and water biochemistry. I think I gain more than I risk, and last year I detected no issues. Other design variations: - Covering the bottom 80% with straight sections of perforated drain pipe to maximize storage capacity, but allows for enough space between the sections for sand wicking to pull from the base level. If bedding with sand (vs gravel), continuously sleeve the drain pipe sections, to better communicate water between the sections. Opt for 3" vs 4" diameter drain pipe to gain another inch of soil mix depth in a fixed height container. Plumb the horizontal overflow pipe directly into the vertical fill pipe.
E Philip Small Good morning, and thank you for your comments. This will be our second year with these beds - we have added two more to make a total of 6 and hoping to have as much success as we did last year. Your variations sound intriguing - if we add more beds next year, we will consider incorporating them.
Your garden boxes are beautiful. Have you ever thought about a hugel design rather than the expensive materials used? My husband and I installed six 3' x 8' x 2.5' raised beds. We used corrugated metal for the siding held together with untreated redwood 2" x 4" lumber. We used a layering technique as follows; logs lined the bottom, then sticks and twigs, next a mulch layer making sure to fill any gaps, green compost topped the mulch, compost, and topped it all off with dirt. Each box costs on average $50 USD. The layers were harvested off our property but most communities provide green waste material to its members. Living under extreme drought conditions in CA, the logs absorbed moisture releasing it evenly throughout the box minimizing the need to water as often. Not only that, the benefits of naturally feeding vegetables as well as inviting beneficial bugs such as earth worms were a plus. The link below provides some information. We chose to box the mound rather than create a mound to better control the moisture content. I highly recommend giving it a go with your next garden box project and compare results. Thank you for your time and best to you and your garden. permaculturenews.org/2012/03/23/a-recipe-for-a-hugelkultur-raised-bed/
+Anne McKenzie Thanks, Anne, for your comments and your suggestion. I just had a quick look at your hugulkultur beds and they look great. I can see some very real advantages to them, not the least is the difference in cost. In our circumstances, one of our challenges are the very large elm trees on the adjoining city property which suck up all the moisture nearby. The raised bed design that we used isolates the beds from the root systems of these trees. Of course, the design also isolates the beds from the beneficial bugs and earth worms so it is a trade-off. Thanks for sharing the link about hugalkultur - we will most certainly study it and pass on the information to others to make use of.
Here's an idea for people that have existing growing beds: Put containers with gravel at the bottom and dig them in. (Provided your growing bed is high enough for that). You can even add pipes to fill them, but I just buried them and let them fill up passively. Any overflow will simply trickle down into the ground. It's a crude method and not as effective as shown in this video, but it works. :) In other beds I've buried a large amount of wood. Sticks, branches, logs and filled that up with soil. The wood retains a lot of water and while it's decomposing it provides nutrition for compost worms for a long time. I believe this method is called Hugelkultur, with the difference of applying it to a growing bed.. Both methods work great, but if you get attacked by armies of slugs each summer, having healthy and moist soil unfortunately could not safe me from disaster. :/ Already gearing up for the upcoming spring tho... Hey, that's a great garden-cart in your video! 4 large wheels AND it can dump. Wow.
this is very-fine, sure-enuff, but friends...these have been built from blockwork, too. Use what you have! Obviously, these fine folks are in "timber-country"? :-) TIP, don't go NuTz on super-heavy-duty "liner". Once soil-covered, it'll last longer than you :-)
Good afternoon Rod, Love the video... I am in the process of building my own wicking beds; built the frame but trying to understand the overflow... I heard your video in regards to the overflow pipe. Which is the part i am a little confused about.. You are saying in the lower board at the top you drill the hole for the water flow, and then add gravel to cover that pipe, and then the soil from then on. Question - with that gap of the pipe better the gravel and soil - how does the water travel that small distance if there isn't any water?
+TeslaRoadsterSpud Good evening, and thanks for the question. Yes, with the continued interest, I will try to do that. We have been very pleased with the results so far, so much so, that last season, we added 2 more wicking beds, making 6 in total that we now have. This season we will be adding to our rainwater catchment capabilities.
One thing I dont understand is why you made the overflow so low. The average vegetables will grow in 12 inches of soil and the water will wick to 16 inches. I usually do my wicking beds at 16 inches to the overflow and 16 inches of soil. They look great, good job but it would be better to take advantage of the extra room for water. I only have to fill mine two or three times a year.
+paulluna45 Good point, Paul. These beds were constructed based on plans that were shared with me. Accordingly, I set the overflow at the top of the gravel bed, which coincides with the top of the water reservoir. During the past two years, we found that adding water once a week ensured that the vegetables always had water. Certainly making the reservoir deeper would extend the time between adding water. but for us, we are around enough of the time, "talking to" the plants and just generally being actively involved in the growing season and so it has not been a problem for us.
We have not had a problem with algae so far. As I understand it, algae needs sunlight to survive and of course there is no sunlight getting through to the bottom of the beds.
I just read that you dont use tubing. I would recommend using a perforated tube from the top of the gravel to the bottom of the gravel. You cut a hole in the fabric and fill the tube with soil that wicks the water up into the bed.
Good morning, Paul. I have just seen your comment today. I am not sure if I understand you. We used perforated weeping tile, starting at the top of the bed and placed in one corner, extending down in the corner past the landscape fabric into the gravel and then placed diagonally in the bed of gravel. Is that not similar to what you are suggesting?
#1 You don't use soil. #2) You don't fill the pipe with anything, actually the opposite, you want to cap the ends with a permeable material too allow water to enter and allow air exchange. You want to add the drain about an inch - 1.5" below the top of the tube/pipe, to allow air. If using any type of pipe other than corrugated/perforated, you will need to incorporate holes. You need to allow a little gap between the pipes to allow Wicking material to go in between the pipes.
Considering the combined weight of soil, gravel and water, building these beds on legs would require some serious framing and engineering. A more practical option might be to use IBC totes, as suggested by TomFreed in the comments below, cutting them in half to provided two beds, and building a frame to suspend them at the height you like. If you do go with that option, make sure the IPC tote you select has not been used to carry toxic substances.
Where in the video was the 4 inch perforated weeping tile added? Also, the overflow pipe how does that work? Is there a link that has a video that goes more in depth into this aspect? Thanks in advance!
For more complete information on building wicking beds, go to Verge Permaculture's RUclips channel and search "wicking beds". My beds were modelled on their beds via a friend who built his own with their design. Rob and Michelle have numerous videos on the topic and go into much better detail than I did in this video. Their videos are also up to date. And just for the record, I am currently enrolled in a Permaculture Design Certificate course from Verge Permaculture. They are the folks with far more expertise and knowledge than me. ruclips.net/user/VergePermaculturesearch?query=wicking+beds
@@RodMcLaren Thank you for the prompt response and information! It is greatly appreciated. I will be practicing on a urban scale in TX and hope to get to Jamaica in the near future to practice permaculture in a rural setting off-grid. A friend shared your link....and he is planning on heading to Jamaica to practice permaculture too from America.
@@nathaliewilson1817 I wish you much success with your work in Texas, and in Jamaica when that time comes. Permaculture transcends borders in its scope - my son and his staff provide most of the food that is required at his eco-lodge on the coast of Ghana using Permaculture adaptations of traditional agriculture.
Rob Cooper Yes, the way that I did it was, after "feeling" through the pond liner and identifying the hole in the box, to use an exacto knife to cut an X in the liner. I then forced the pipe through the X and the rubber itself acted as the seal.
The beds are frozen all winter and haven't caused a problem. Our winter temperatures in Zone 3a would not allow us to grow anything in the beds during the winter, but we have seeded spinach in the fall so it gets a very early start in the spring. At the moment we are experimenting with the new passive solar greenhouses we built in the fall. Greens planted a few weeks ago are coming along fine and we expect to be eating fresh salads in a few weeks. Last night the outside temperature dropped to -10C and the temperature inside the greenhouse went down to -2C. The raised beds outside are still frozen solid and a week ago still had snow on them! Here is the link to the greenhouse build: ruclips.net/video/KPJNEeRNOpU/видео.html
@@l.s8473 You are very welcome. And I have just had a further thought - if you are on Facebook, search me out. This week I posted photos of a folding hoop cover for these beds. I built one last year and it was successful so I have built a second one. I covered the hoops with crop cover, which allows sunlight and rain through and keeps things like cabbage butterflies off. It also elevates temperatures, warming the soil for earlier planting and germination of early crops like spinach and lettuce. The covers provide frost protection for things like tomatoes. We have gained a couple weeks at both ends of the growing season.
Good morning, 'Shackled'. I understand your skepticism - gravel does not seem the best medium for capillary action. However it happens, the water moves up to the growing medium and the soil remains moist below the surface of the beds. Bottom line - it works, and has done so for three growing seasons. :)
@@grantmcclelland9920 Hi, Grant. I just now saw your comment. Hope you and your family are well. I spent a few weeks with Akwasi and family in February and had a great time.
Do you have any idea how much the pond liner is for a 4 X 8 bed? I have 6 beds and need to line them with something, the water leaks out so fast, this is the perfect thing for me. I have done one bed with 6 mil plastic, then saw your video, I don't want to make a big mistake with 7 more beds and only me to do all the work and disabled. That would really upset me, haha. take care, Kim.
+The Abled Gardener Hi, Kim, thanks for your interest. For each 4X8 bed, we used 15 feet of EDM pond liner in a 10 foot width. The price (in Canadian dollars) currently is $10/foot. It is not cheap but it does the job. 6 mil plastic does not stand up - our friends tried it in their earliest beds and the next year had to redo them. Re-doing them is a bigger job than the original, as you can imagine, because care has to be taken when removing first the soil, and then the gravel without mixing the two. Wishing you success with your project - we began with 4 beds in 2014 and added 2 more this spring and have been very satisfied with the results.
+Rod McLaren It sounds like you are doing well with your garden. I'll have to figure out what I will do. You're right, it's a lot of work to take all the soil out every year or when ever needed. I'll just save up for the pond liner and do it that way. I think that's best, thank's for giving me an idea on the price. I can just do them slower then I thought, which will be easier on my back anyway, LOL. Thanks again, Kim
This is all fine and dandy, but Rod you have not provided the info on how you do it after you have installed the pond liner in the bed. Do you put corrugated pine inside or not before you put the course rocks? Thanks for the info.....
+Blanche-Marie Couture Sorry if there is some confusion - there is no "corrugated pine". The course rock goes in after the pond liner; then landscape fabric is laid over the course rock and up the sides of the box; then soil is added to fill the box. The landscape fabric prevents the fine soil from traveling down into the water reservoir that is formed by the course rock.
I'm just building my first raised wicking bed that will implement some special features. I was asking myself how you installed the overflow pipe into the liner ?
The first one always seems the most difficult but only because we are trying something for the first time. There are several ways of installing an overflow. On the video that starts at the 2:05 minute mark. Position it at the top of the water reservoir. See my remarks at the bottom of this page for how I did it.
+Paula Beattie Good morning, Paula. Excellent question. We add water once a week to each bed and that usually is adequate. Two things affect the amount of water that is required. 1. Hot weather increases the amount of evaporation from the surface of the bed. 2. The stage and amount of growth of the vegetables planted in the bed. When water starts running out of the overflow pipe, it means that the "reservoir" is full.
I don't remember what the beds cost when I built them 7 years ago but it hardly matters. Prices have changed since then and vary from one place to another.I suggest you take the list of components mentioned in the video and price them out for your area.
Hi, Vanessa, we have not been doing anything to winterize the beds and they seem to be fine, and often they are filled with fall rains before freeze-up. There is enough flex in everything to take any freeze/thaw expansion that happens.
Thanks for your kind comment, Gone Fishing. Saskatoon is considered to be Zone 2, although some winters are not much different than Zone 3. It is likely better to be on the safe side, although with several freeze thaws during the past winter, our beds came through okay and they were certainly soaked.
How about using a double 6 mil plastic instead of pond liner. The price is quite expensive at Lowe's and a little cheaper at Home Depot. The price is right around $60?
+Blanche-Marie Couture Good afternoon, I have just seen your comment. See my reply to The Abled Gardener above. From the experience of my friends here who tried a double layer of 6 mil poly, it is not tough enough for the job. They have had to redo their beds because of the amount of water that they lost when the poly failed. Tim Burrows made an excellent suggestion - that you may be able to get old pool liners from a pool company.
= @@RodMcLaren = I hope your still reading comments.. Please help. (1) Did the people try to find out what caused the 6-mil plastic to fail ?? (2) Was it stone penetration, or degrading of the plastic ?? (3) What is the longest time that a bed with 6-mil has lasted to date ?? I am desperately building my first raised bed, because all statistics point to severe food shortage soon Do to cost limits, I am considering putting in triple 6-mil, with some cheap liner type padding on top to stop stone penetration. . All that is still less then 1/4 price of any thicker liner that I can find. As for my climate I am in eastern Canada.
@@DocScience2 Yup, I still read 'em. :) Sorry, I don't have answers to your questions. All I know is my friends tried single layer of 6 mil and it leaked so they tried double layer and it leaked. After 3 years they took their beds apart and redid them with pond liner - a lot of hard work. Check around for liner prices. I built some beds for my mother 3 years ago. I purchased the same liner I had used in my beds and the night before I was to build my mother's beds, my truck was stolen and the new liner went with it. I went looking for replacement liner and found some at Canadian Tire - it was somewhat thinner but it was half the price and did the job quite nicely. Maybe give them a try if you have a store nearby. Wishing you good fortune in these uncertain times.
= @@RodMcLaren = Thankyou for the fast reply. What kind of liner did you get at Canadian tire?? Options that I know of are pond liner and pool liner. Was it one of these names or something different ??
No, Kenneth, you caught my misuse of that term. When I was first introduced to the idea, that was the term that was given to them and when I edited the video, I kept using the term. It was only sometime after that common sense told me that they need some one to add the water, hence they are not "self-watering". They are correctly termed "wicking" beds. Aside from the misnomer, I hope you found the video useful. Regards, Rod
Been researching these for a while now, and your video lost me as soon as you started adding the gravel. Why did you add so much gravel instead of using sand? Sand will wick the water up better than gravel would. And with sand, you wouldn't need the landscaping fabric in between to prevent the soil from falling through.
I guess you could try it that way and see how it goes. I don't suggest there are not other and perhaps better ways of building these beds. Course gravel leaves a lot more space for water in the reservoir and has no difficulty wicking water. Landscape fabric is one of the cheapest components of the beds. We are coming to the end of our sixth season with these beds and are still very satisfied with the performance. At the moment (October 7), there are still kohlrabi, lettuce and spinach, carrots and onions, and potentially even a late crop of cauliflower growing in some of the beds. Peppers and tomatoes, cucumbers and squash, broccoli and other brassicas, have already been harvested from the other beds. Next spring we are planning to build some additional wicking beds in front of the Passive Solar Greenhouse we are currently constructing. We plan to build them the same way we have done the beds in the video.
@@RodMcLaren I agree that there are many different ways to make these beds. Wasn't trying to argue with you at all. It just had me curious why you had chosen to use gravel. When I started learning about this style, I had immediately thought of using gravel as well, for the same reason. But I think sand is the better wicking choice, provided you allow spaces for water to be held (pipes, crates, etc...)
@@khione8044 Thank you for your reply to my reply. I will be very interested in hearing how you build your beds. Do keep me in the loop and do consider putting up a video on your progress. The interest in growing food continues to expand and we are all in this together. Best wishes.
Best video I’ve seen about building a wicking bed that looks nice too. Thank you!
Thannk you for your kind comment, Kelly. Its nice to know the video is still useful after so many years. We have grown a lot of vegetables in our beds and have started planting another season's promise.
Beautiful design. And it obviously works very well. I will be sharing this clip extensively. Along with RobBob's clips, this is excellent guidance of how to approach the wicking bed opportunity.
Four variations I employ to optimize for vertical capillary flow: 1) I favor sand over gravel for bedding the drain pipe. Clean gravel doesn't wick. 2) I forego the fabric separator between the gravel and the soil, opting instead to sleeve the drain pipe to keep the sand out of it. 3) After the sand goes in, I fill with water to the sand level and use that as a guide to level the sand layer. 4) I use sand size biochar in the soil mix to increase capillary flow capacity. The biochar allows me to use a little deeper soil, approaching 20 inches (0.5 meters), because I can count on the water wicking faster, higher.
Going from gravel to sand, removing the fabric separator, these two changes increase the risk of anaerobic soil and water biochemistry. I think I gain more than I risk, and last year I detected no issues.
Other design variations: -
Covering the bottom 80% with straight sections of perforated drain pipe to maximize storage capacity, but allows for enough space between the sections for sand wicking to pull from the base level.
If bedding with sand (vs gravel), continuously sleeve the drain pipe sections, to better communicate water between the sections.
Opt for 3" vs 4" diameter drain pipe to gain another inch of soil mix depth in a fixed height container.
Plumb the horizontal overflow pipe directly into the vertical fill pipe.
E Philip Small Good morning, and thank you for your comments. This will be our second year with these beds - we have added two more to make a total of 6 and hoping to have as much success as we did last year. Your variations sound intriguing - if we add more beds next year, we will consider incorporating them.
Do you have a plan for this idea?
Your garden boxes are beautiful. Have you ever thought about a hugel design rather than the expensive materials used? My husband and I installed six 3' x 8' x 2.5' raised beds. We used corrugated metal for the siding held together with untreated redwood 2" x 4" lumber. We used a layering technique as follows; logs lined the bottom, then sticks and twigs, next a mulch layer making sure to fill any gaps, green compost topped the mulch, compost, and topped it all off with dirt. Each box costs on average $50 USD. The layers were harvested off our property but most communities provide green waste material to its members. Living under extreme drought conditions in CA, the logs absorbed moisture releasing it evenly throughout the box minimizing the need to water as often. Not only that, the benefits of naturally feeding vegetables as well as inviting beneficial bugs such as earth worms were a plus. The link below provides some information. We chose to box the mound rather than create a mound to better control the moisture content. I highly recommend giving it a go with your next garden box project and compare results. Thank you for your time and best to you and your garden. permaculturenews.org/2012/03/23/a-recipe-for-a-hugelkultur-raised-bed/
+Anne McKenzie Thanks, Anne, for your comments and your suggestion. I just had a quick look at your hugulkultur beds and they look great. I can see some very real advantages to them, not the least is the difference in cost. In our circumstances, one of our challenges are the very large elm trees on the adjoining city property which suck up all the moisture nearby. The raised bed design that we used isolates the beds from the root systems of these trees. Of course, the design also isolates the beds from the beneficial bugs and earth worms so it is a trade-off. Thanks for sharing the link about hugalkultur - we will most certainly study it and pass on the information to others to make use of.
Here's an idea for people that have existing growing beds: Put containers with gravel at the bottom and dig them in. (Provided your growing bed is high enough for that). You can even add pipes to fill them, but I just buried them and let them fill up passively. Any overflow will simply trickle down into the ground. It's a crude method and not as effective as shown in this video, but it works. :)
In other beds I've buried a large amount of wood. Sticks, branches, logs and filled that up with soil. The wood retains a lot of water and while it's decomposing it provides nutrition for compost worms for a long time. I believe this method is called Hugelkultur, with the difference of applying it to a growing bed..
Both methods work great, but if you get attacked by armies of slugs each summer, having healthy and moist soil unfortunately could not safe me from disaster. :/ Already gearing up for the upcoming spring tho...
Hey, that's a great garden-cart in your video! 4 large wheels AND it can dump. Wow.
this is very-fine, sure-enuff, but friends...these have been built from blockwork, too. Use what you have! Obviously, these fine folks are in "timber-country"? :-) TIP, don't go NuTz on super-heavy-duty "liner". Once soil-covered, it'll last longer than you :-)
Good afternoon Rod, Love the video... I am in the process of building my own wicking beds; built the frame but trying to understand the overflow... I heard your video in regards to the overflow pipe. Which is the part i am a little confused about.. You are saying in the lower board at the top you drill the hole for the water flow, and then add gravel to cover that pipe, and then the soil from then on. Question - with that gap of the pipe better the gravel and soil - how does the water travel that small distance if there isn't any water?
it would be easier if the narration follwed the steps
+Rod McLaren Any chance we will be getting an update on your Wicking Beds?
+TeslaRoadsterSpud Good evening, and thanks for the question. Yes, with the continued interest, I will try to do that. We have been very pleased with the results so far, so much so, that last season, we added 2 more wicking beds, making 6 in total that we now have. This season we will be adding to our rainwater catchment capabilities.
One thing I dont understand is why you made the overflow so low. The average vegetables will grow in 12 inches of soil and the water will wick to 16 inches. I usually do my wicking beds at 16 inches to the overflow and 16 inches of soil. They look great, good job but it would be better to take advantage of the extra room for water. I only have to fill mine two or three times a year.
+paulluna45 Good point, Paul. These beds were constructed based on plans that were shared with me. Accordingly, I set the overflow at the top of the gravel bed, which coincides with the top of the water reservoir. During the past two years, we found that adding water once a week ensured that the vegetables always had water. Certainly making the reservoir deeper would extend the time between adding water. but for us, we are around enough of the time, "talking to" the plants and just generally being actively involved in the growing season and so it has not been a problem for us.
We have not had a problem with algae so far. As I understand it, algae needs sunlight to survive and of course there is no sunlight getting through to the bottom of the beds.
I just read that you dont use tubing. I would recommend using a perforated tube from the top of the gravel to the bottom of the gravel. You cut a hole in the fabric and fill the tube with soil that wicks the water up into the bed.
Good morning, Paul. I have just seen your comment today. I am not sure if I understand you. We used perforated weeping tile, starting at the top of the bed and placed in one corner, extending down in the corner past the landscape fabric into the gravel and then placed diagonally in the bed of gravel. Is that not similar to what you are suggesting?
#1 You don't use soil.
#2) You don't fill the pipe with anything, actually the opposite, you want to cap the ends with a permeable material too allow water to enter and allow air exchange.
You want to add the drain about an inch - 1.5" below the top of the tube/pipe, to allow air.
If using any type of pipe other than corrugated/perforated, you will need to incorporate holes.
You need to allow a little gap between the pipes to allow Wicking material to go in between the pipes.
Hello all, Thank you for sharing this! I need advice, I am needing to build one that's standing waist high. How can we make one with legs?
Considering the combined weight of soil, gravel and water, building these beds on legs would require some serious framing and engineering. A more practical option might be to use IBC totes, as suggested by TomFreed in the comments below, cutting them in half to provided two beds, and building a frame to suspend them at the height you like. If you do go with that option, make sure the IPC tote you select has not been used to carry toxic substances.
Where in the video was the 4 inch perforated weeping tile added?
Also, the overflow pipe how does that work? Is there a link that has a video that goes more in depth into this aspect? Thanks in advance!
For more complete information on building wicking beds, go to Verge Permaculture's RUclips channel and search "wicking beds". My beds were modelled on their beds via a friend who built his own with their design. Rob and Michelle have numerous videos on the topic and go into much better detail than I did in this video. Their videos are also up to date. And just for the record, I am currently enrolled in a Permaculture Design Certificate course from Verge Permaculture. They are the folks with far more expertise and knowledge than me. ruclips.net/user/VergePermaculturesearch?query=wicking+beds
@@RodMcLaren Thank you for the prompt response and information! It is greatly appreciated. I will be practicing on a urban scale in TX and hope to get to Jamaica in the near future to practice permaculture in a rural setting off-grid. A friend shared your link....and he is planning on heading to Jamaica to practice permaculture too from America.
@@nathaliewilson1817 I wish you much success with your work in Texas, and in Jamaica when that time comes. Permaculture transcends borders in its scope - my son and his staff provide most of the food that is required at his eco-lodge on the coast of Ghana using Permaculture adaptations of traditional agriculture.
@@RodMcLaren Thanks! And you are right....there are no borders.....just learning what will work best in different climates/soil/etc.
The only thing I'm not clear about is the overflow pipe. There must be a hole cut in the pond liner and then sealed some how?
Rob Cooper Yes, the way that I did it was, after "feeling" through the pond liner and identifying the hole in the box, to use an exacto knife to cut an X in the liner. I then forced the pipe through the X and the rubber itself acted as the seal.
Have you ever planted anything in them in the fall or winter months? How do you stop the water from freezing?
The beds are frozen all winter and haven't caused a problem. Our winter temperatures in Zone 3a would not allow us to grow anything in the beds during the winter, but we have seeded spinach in the fall so it gets a very early start in the spring. At the moment we are experimenting with the new passive solar greenhouses we built in the fall. Greens planted a few weeks ago are coming along fine and we expect to be eating fresh salads in a few weeks. Last night the outside temperature dropped to -10C and the temperature inside the greenhouse went down to -2C. The raised beds outside are still frozen solid and a week ago still had snow on them! Here is the link to the greenhouse build: ruclips.net/video/KPJNEeRNOpU/видео.html
@@RodMcLaren Thanks for taking your time to reply and for providing such a thorough explanation :)
@@l.s8473 You are very welcome. And I have just had a further thought - if you are on Facebook, search me out. This week I posted photos of a folding hoop cover for these beds. I built one last year and it was successful so I have built a second one. I covered the hoops with crop cover, which allows sunlight and rain through and keeps things like cabbage butterflies off. It also elevates temperatures, warming the soil for earlier planting and germination of early crops like spinach and lettuce. The covers provide frost protection for things like tomatoes. We have gained a couple weeks at both ends of the growing season.
@@RodMcLaren Awesome. Will do. Thanks :)
how the hell does water "wick" up through gravel? There is no capillary action in gravel so this seems impossible.
Good morning, 'Shackled'. I understand your skepticism - gravel does not seem the best medium for capillary action. However it happens, the water moves up to the growing medium and the soil remains moist below the surface of the beds. Bottom line - it works, and has done so for three growing seasons. :)
Rod McLaren....I watched this video for about a minute and thought ”man that voice sounds familiar!
Its how nature works it always wants to balence everything!! So if its wet at the bottom it will want to move the water up to where it is dry
@@grantmcclelland9920 Hi, Grant. I just now saw your comment. Hope you and your family are well. I spent a few weeks with Akwasi and family in February and had a great time.
By evaporation.
Do you have any idea how much the pond liner is for a 4 X 8 bed? I have 6 beds and need to line them with something, the water leaks out so fast, this is the perfect thing for me. I have done one bed with 6 mil plastic, then saw your video, I don't want to make a big mistake with 7 more beds and only me to do all the work and disabled. That would really upset me, haha. take care, Kim.
+The Abled Gardener Hi, Kim, thanks for your interest. For each 4X8 bed, we used 15 feet of EDM pond liner in a 10 foot width. The price (in Canadian dollars) currently is $10/foot. It is not cheap but it does the job. 6 mil plastic does not stand up - our friends tried it in their earliest beds and the next year had to redo them. Re-doing them is a bigger job than the original, as you can imagine, because care has to be taken when removing first the soil, and then the gravel without mixing the two. Wishing you success with your project - we began with 4 beds in 2014 and added 2 more this spring and have been very satisfied with the results.
+Rod McLaren It sounds like you are doing well with your garden. I'll have to figure out what I will do. You're right, it's a lot of work to take all the soil out every year or when ever needed. I'll just save up for the pond liner and do it that way. I think that's best, thank's for giving me an idea on the price. I can just do them slower then I thought, which will be easier on my back anyway, LOL. Thanks again, Kim
+The Abled Gardener Consider calling a pool company....you could reuse their old broken pool liners
This is all fine and dandy, but Rod you have not provided the info on how you do it after you have installed the pond liner in the bed. Do you put corrugated pine inside or not before you put the course rocks? Thanks for the info.....
+Blanche-Marie Couture Sorry if there is some confusion - there is no "corrugated pine". The course rock goes in after the pond liner; then landscape fabric is laid over the course rock and up the sides of the box; then soil is added to fill the box. The landscape fabric prevents the fine soil from traveling down into the water reservoir that is formed by the course rock.
+Rod McLaren Thank you Rod...you made it a lot clearer for me. That is what I want to do now for the spring. Thank you again.
I'm just building my first raised wicking bed that will implement some special features. I was asking myself how you installed the overflow pipe into the liner ?
The first one always seems the most difficult but only because we are trying something for the first time. There are several ways of installing an overflow. On the video that starts at the 2:05 minute mark. Position it at the top of the water reservoir. See my remarks at the bottom of this page for how I did it.
Hi,
How often did you have to fill the pipe with water?
+Paula Beattie Good morning, Paula. Excellent question. We add water once a week to each bed and that usually is adequate. Two things affect the amount of water that is required. 1. Hot weather increases the amount of evaporation from the surface of the bed. 2. The stage and amount of growth of the vegetables planted in the bed. When water starts running out of the overflow pipe, it means that the "reservoir" is full.
What is reason for using the garden fabric
@Lucial Joy Raj. as wicking medium, however bed sheets can work also.
Estimated cost?????
I don't remember what the beds cost when I built them 7 years ago but it hardly matters. Prices have changed since then and vary from one place to another.I suggest you take the list of components mentioned in the video and price them out for your area.
Rod, how do you winter proof your beds? do you drain all the water?
Hi, Vanessa, we have not been doing anything to winterize the beds and they seem to be fine, and often they are filled with fall rains before freeze-up. There is enough flex in everything to take any freeze/thaw expansion that happens.
Hi Rod, Thank you for the reply! We got our 6 beds up and running. Boy was it a lot of work, but so worth it! Your video was very helpful!
Thanks for your kind comment, Gone Fishing. Saskatoon is considered to be Zone 2, although some winters are not much different than Zone 3. It is likely better to be on the safe side, although with several freeze thaws during the past winter, our beds came through okay and they were certainly soaked.
nice :)
How about using a double 6 mil plastic instead of pond liner. The price is quite expensive at Lowe's and a little cheaper at Home Depot. The price is right around $60?
+Blanche-Marie Couture Good afternoon, I have just seen your comment. See my reply to The Abled Gardener above. From the experience of my friends here who tried a double layer of 6 mil poly, it is not tough enough for the job. They have had to redo their beds because of the amount of water that they lost when the poly failed. Tim Burrows made an excellent suggestion - that you may be able to get old pool liners from a pool company.
+Rod McLaren Thank you Rod...I will follow your advice. I sure do not want to retart my bed.
= @@RodMcLaren = I hope your still reading comments.. Please help.
(1) Did the people try to find out what caused the 6-mil plastic to fail ??
(2) Was it stone penetration, or degrading of the plastic ??
(3) What is the longest time that a bed with 6-mil has lasted to date ??
I am desperately building my first raised bed, because all statistics point to severe food shortage soon
Do to cost limits, I am considering putting in triple 6-mil, with some cheap liner type padding on top to stop stone penetration. . All that is still less then 1/4 price of any thicker liner that I can find.
As for my climate I am in eastern Canada.
@@DocScience2 Yup, I still read 'em. :) Sorry, I don't have answers to your questions. All I know is my friends tried single layer of 6 mil and it leaked so they tried double layer and it leaked. After 3 years they took their beds apart and redid them with pond liner - a lot of hard work. Check around for liner prices. I built some beds for my mother 3 years ago. I purchased the same liner I had used in my beds and the night before I was to build my mother's beds, my truck was stolen and the new liner went with it. I went looking for replacement liner and found some at Canadian Tire - it was somewhat thinner but it was half the price and did the job quite nicely. Maybe give them a try if you have a store nearby. Wishing you good fortune in these uncertain times.
= @@RodMcLaren = Thankyou for the fast reply.
What kind of liner did you get at Canadian tire??
Options that I know of are pond liner and pool liner.
Was it one of these names or something different ??
did i miss the self watering...to these?
No, Kenneth, you caught my misuse of that term. When I was first introduced to the idea, that was the term that was given to them and when I edited the video, I kept using the term. It was only sometime after that common sense told me that they need some one to add the water, hence they are not "self-watering". They are correctly termed "wicking" beds. Aside from the misnomer, I hope you found the video useful. Regards, Rod
Hi Rod - thank you for sharing this information! I was wondering what the soil mix is that you used? Thanks!
Good morning, Vanessa. See my reply to Gone Fishing above. It is nothing special - just good old topsoil and around here, that is black loam.
Been researching these for a while now, and your video lost me as soon as you started adding the gravel. Why did you add so much gravel instead of using sand? Sand will wick the water up better than gravel would. And with sand, you wouldn't need the landscaping fabric in between to prevent the soil from falling through.
I guess you could try it that way and see how it goes. I don't suggest there are not other and perhaps better ways of building these beds. Course gravel leaves a lot more space for water in the reservoir and has no difficulty wicking water. Landscape fabric is one of the cheapest components of the beds. We are coming to the end of our sixth season with these beds and are still very satisfied with the performance. At the moment (October 7), there are still kohlrabi, lettuce and spinach, carrots and onions, and potentially even a late crop of cauliflower growing in some of the beds. Peppers and tomatoes, cucumbers and squash, broccoli and other brassicas, have already been harvested from the other beds. Next spring we are planning to build some additional wicking beds in front of the Passive Solar Greenhouse we are currently constructing. We plan to build them the same way we have done the beds in the video.
@@RodMcLaren I agree that there are many different ways to make these beds. Wasn't trying to argue with you at all. It just had me curious why you had chosen to use gravel. When I started learning about this style, I had immediately thought of using gravel as well, for the same reason. But I think sand is the better wicking choice, provided you allow spaces for water to be held (pipes, crates, etc...)
@@RodMcLaren Thank you for explaining why you chose to go with gravel! I am glad it is doing well for you! 😀
@@khione8044 Thank you for your reply to my reply. I will be very interested in hearing how you build your beds. Do keep me in the loop and do consider putting up a video on your progress. The interest in growing food continues to expand and we are all in this together. Best wishes.
@@RodMcLaren Thanks! Currently, I live in an apartment, so my gardening space is limited. But at least still possible.
2:23 HOLLY SHIT !!
I heard about stodoys instructions good opinions.
so cool to me