Water Retaining Garden Bed That's Gopher Proof Too! its called a wicking bed! check it out! Great way to not have to water you garden every day! I water mine 1 time a week!
I use a pvc fill pipe. Doing so causes air to be drawn through the soil, aerating the soil as the plants drink. For the same reason the overflow pipe ends in an L joint below water level. These simple changes can mitigate the anaerobic issues you mentioned. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for sharing. I was considering a raised bed, but your method is awesome. You just put in the initial effort and work and then your home free!🤗👍🏾👏🏾
Thank you, we just built our first homemade raised beds yesterday, so thus is perfect timing before we fill the beds. Wondering what your thoughts are on self wocking beds vs hugel culture beds. I guess we could expirement and make one of each.
Ive seen several videos explaining where raw wood is used in the soil it robs teh soil of nitrogen. Im not a scientist so i dont know for sure but it may be wise to check it out or add a bunch of nitrogen?
Love this! Just finished my own and very easy to set-up. One question I do have, on your very first soil watering would you water the top soil as well as the pipes or keep it as is until water has risen to the top?
I do not know what he did first.. This is what he can do after. . I believe he has 2 ways to do it.. He can put water into the fill pipe until he sees the water level in the fill pipe is high enough. He can put water into the fill pipe until he sees the water coming out of the overflow tube. If he sees this reply, he can tell us if there is any changes or updates. I want to know how many feet of pipe he puts into the bottom of the bed. I think that if he measures that perforated pipe, he will find that it is 4 inch diameter. Can you measure the water level in your system from the fill pipe, and how fast does it go down ??
Take a piece of the pipe you plan to use and cut a thin piece for a template. live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210333887_81f1b49684_b.jpg About 1.25" mark a center point and drill at the center. live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210333537_2d787a34c9_b.jpg
= Holden Homestead = before you add water to the system, how far down is the water level in the fill chamber ?? Is it almost to the bottom, or do you find the plants getting a bit dry, even though the water level is only half way in the perforated tubes ?? I need to know how well the gravel transfers the water up to the dirt.. I am in Canada.. What state are you in, to show your climate zone ??
I filled it with 1/3 rd of gravel and 2/3 soil depending on what size you make your bed. The tube is at the bottom and filled untimely it over flows out the spill way hose ..... the plants grow to the water .... when you first transplant you need to water more to get the plant established ..... California zone 8 ... hope it helped thanks for the comment
= @@HoldenHomestead = I am not explaining what I need to know. At what point do you add more water.. When the water level is 4 inches height from the bottom ?? When the water level is 2 inches height from the bottom ?? When the water level is 1 inches height from the bottom ?? Have you ever seen the water level go down to 1 inch from the bottom ??
DocScience2 just pop the cap open and when the water is low fill it up .... you can even put a sprinkler system in there to fill the chamber.... you will just have the mess with the flow rate and timing .... I was filling mine once a week and it got to 100 degrees out for about a month.... different plants require more water but you will get a feel for it ...... so I would say just make sure your chamber has some water in it at all times..... one trick I did was put my finger in the soil to make sure it was moist about 3 - 4 inches down then your good 👍
Hi ,I just subscribed & have a question about sip raised bed-last years version featured plastic with a tarp that held water but leaked around overflow thru tarp so this year I placed a pond liner in but would like to know how to keep it from leaking around overflow
You can use a uniseal or a water tight pipe fitting instead of the hose like I used and have it drain out to the location you want .... also bringing the liner higher then the overflow water will only come out of the overflow .... let me know if that helps
Drill your hole for the overflow, slide in the overflow pipe, using a razor blade cut an "x" in the liner, slide the pipe in through the "x" about 4" past your final position, use a good bit of silicone on the pipe and liner, slide it out and slightly twist the pipe, reapply more silicone when in final position, to be safe, let it cure and reapply another bit of silicone. Overflow pipe - live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210332157_4b7102beb4_b.jpg Full Build sites.google.com/view/sqwibs-wicking-beds/home Hope this helps
Hi everyone. I would appreciate directions on how to create the watering spicket that you use to fill the water reservoir. I see in the video that it has a cap and it appears that it has some of the plastic liner attached to it as well. However, it was not described how to do this. I am a newbie and need support!
When you water the plants the reservoir will refill …. Or you can pull off the cap of the corrugated pipe and add water in there …. Then the plants pull the water up ….
They will find it .... you will need to water the top soil so they don’t die but what is nice about the bed is the water evaporates up to the service so the soil should stay nice and moist. But that depends on your climate and dirt you use
I use a pvc fill pipe. Doing so causes air to be drawn through the soil, aerating the soil as the plants drink. For the same reason the overflow pipe ends in an L joint below water level. These simple changes can mitigate the anaerobic issues you mentioned. Thanks for the video!
Very cool way to make raised beds ,you could even add nutrients through the resavior
Thanks for sharing. I was considering a raised bed, but your method is awesome. You just put in the initial effort and work and then your home free!🤗👍🏾👏🏾
IAMONELUVNOW yes and it’s worth it in the summer time !! Less watering and it trains your plants to grow the roots deep 👍 thanks for the comment
Thank you, we just built our first homemade raised beds yesterday, so thus is perfect timing before we fill the beds. Wondering what your thoughts are on self wocking beds vs hugel culture beds. I guess we could expirement and make one of each.
Ive seen several videos explaining where raw wood is used in the soil it robs teh soil of nitrogen. Im not a scientist so i dont know for sure but it may be wise to check it out or add a bunch of nitrogen?
How do you know when to refill?
Another reason I love living in Australia .. I can skip the Gopher proofing bit !!!! great demo . thanks mate
Thanks for the comment 👍
no rats? rats make tunnels under my raised beds.
Love this! Just finished my own and very easy to set-up. One question I do have, on your very first soil watering would you water the top soil as well as the pipes or keep it as is until water has risen to the top?
I do not know what he did first..
This is what he can do after. . I believe he has 2 ways to do it..
He can put water into the fill pipe until he sees the water level in the fill pipe is high enough.
He can put water into the fill pipe until he sees the water coming out of the overflow tube.
If he sees this reply, he can tell us if there is any changes or updates.
I want to know how many feet of pipe he puts into the bottom of the bed.
I think that if he measures that perforated pipe, he will find that it is 4 inch diameter.
Can you measure the water level in your system from the fill pipe, and how fast does it go down ??
Rikus Nortje yes when you first transplant I watered the top until the plant roots got trained to the bottom
How far above the corrugated black pipe did you install the drain pipe? In other words how deep is your water reservoir?
Good question??
Take a piece of the pipe you plan to use and cut a thin piece for a template.
live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210333887_81f1b49684_b.jpg
About 1.25" mark a center point and drill at the center.
live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210333537_2d787a34c9_b.jpg
Following
= Holden Homestead = before you add water to the system, how far down is the water level in the fill chamber ??
Is it almost to the bottom, or do you find the plants getting a bit dry, even though the water level is only half way in the perforated tubes ??
I need to know how well the gravel transfers the water up to the dirt..
I am in Canada.. What state are you in, to show your climate zone ??
I filled it with 1/3 rd of gravel and 2/3 soil depending on what size you make your bed. The tube is at the bottom and filled untimely it over flows out the spill way hose ..... the plants grow to the water .... when you first transplant you need to water more to get the plant established ..... California zone 8 ... hope it helped thanks for the comment
= @@HoldenHomestead = I am not explaining what I need to know.
At what point do you add more water..
When the water level is 4 inches height from the bottom ??
When the water level is 2 inches height from the bottom ??
When the water level is 1 inches height from the bottom ??
Have you ever seen the water level go down to 1 inch from the bottom ??
DocScience2 just pop the cap open and when the water is low fill it up .... you can even put a sprinkler system in there to fill the chamber.... you will just have the mess with the flow rate and timing .... I was filling mine once a week and it got to 100 degrees out for about a month.... different plants require more water but you will get a feel for it ...... so I would say just make sure your chamber has some water in it at all times..... one trick I did was put my finger in the soil to make sure it was moist about 3 - 4 inches down then your good 👍
Hi ,I just subscribed & have a question about sip raised bed-last years version featured plastic with a tarp that held water but leaked around overflow thru tarp so this year I placed a pond liner in but would like to know how to keep it from leaking around overflow
You can use a uniseal or a water tight pipe fitting instead of the hose like I used and have it drain out to the location you want .... also bringing the liner higher then the overflow water will only come out of the overflow .... let me know if that helps
Drill your hole for the overflow, slide in the overflow pipe, using a razor blade cut an "x" in the liner, slide the pipe in through the "x" about 4" past your final position, use a good bit of silicone on the pipe and liner, slide it out and slightly twist the pipe, reapply more silicone when in final position, to be safe, let it cure and reapply another bit of silicone.
Overflow pipe - live.staticflickr.com/65535/50210332157_4b7102beb4_b.jpg
Full Build
sites.google.com/view/sqwibs-wicking-beds/home
Hope this helps
This is awesome!
Is there a cap on the end inside the planter?
yes
How tall does the raised bed have to be to use this method?
I used 2 2x12 boards on top of each other. The taller you go the more water you can store for a longer period 👍
Gophers can chew thru chicken wire, hardware cloth is the way to go.
Dang I have not experienced that. You must have some super extreme gophers because the chicken wire works great at where we are.
Awesome
Hi everyone. I would appreciate directions on how to create the watering spicket that you use to fill the water reservoir. I see in the video that it has a cap and it appears that it has some of the plastic liner attached to it as well. However, it was not described how to do this. I am a newbie and need support!
When you water the plants the reservoir will refill …. Or you can pull off the cap of the corrugated pipe and add water in there …. Then the plants pull the water up ….
Thanks
No problem
When seeds are just planted how do the roots for the new plantings get down to the water?
They will find it .... you will need to water the top soil so they don’t die but what is nice about the bed is the water evaporates up to the service so the soil should stay nice and moist. But that depends on your climate and dirt you use
@@HoldenHomestead so the plants do not send roots down, just moisture comes up?
@@CFWPC both…. You just don’t need to water and just keep the water reservoir full