Why you should get a wicking bed for your garden

So your first question might be, what is a wicking bed?

It’s a self-watering garden. The water tank sits at the base of your garden and is designed so the water ‘wicks upwards’ into the soil, like a candle wick.

Like all veggie gardens, wicking beds are a great way to grow your own organic food. Growing your own food means you pick what you need and any food scraps can be composted to feed your gardens. These are great ways to reduce food waste going to landfill.

However traditional veggie gardens need to be watered often, especially during summer, and when you fertilise they can attract root invasion from nearby trees.

Here’s why you should think about adding a wicking bed to your garden:

Once they’re set up, wicking beds are almost self-sufficient, you only need to keep your water tank filled.

They’re also perfect for those of us with more of a black thumb, than green as you don’t have to worry about overwatering as the garden waters itself.

They’re also perfect for when you’re not at home – if you go away on a hot summers weekend there’s no more need to ask your neighbours to water your garden.

They are perfect for feeding with your worm juice, castings and compost from your compost bins and worm farms.

Wicking beds flourish with a lot less water than conventional garden beds and use 60-80% less water.

There are many commercial wicking beds you can buy but you can learn to make your own quite easily.  Join a free webinar with Kimbriki’s Senior Ecologist Peter Rutherford who will teach you the secrets of wicking bed design and management.

Once you know the basic principles of wicking bed design, it’s quite straightforward to construct your own from new or reused materials. Your garden beds can also be retrofitted as self-watering, wicking bed gardens.

If you’re interested in other ways you can save water around your home, check out our free webinar where you will learn how to complete your own water efficiency check as well as simple steps you can take to save on your water bill.