Hey everyone,
A very quick post. My fruit trees have arrived but winter’s decided to come back with a vengeance this weekend, so I won’t be doing anything until next week, once the rain and wind leave. These are mostly apples on dwarf root stock and I’m going to grow them in wicking barrels.
And before you ask – yes, I will do a full post about it with lots of photos! 🙂 I made some boxes for the front balcony last summer that have been fabulous and I’ll be using the same basic principles. But I got the idea from a very extensive and instructive video on Rob Bob’s Backyard Gardening YouTube channel. Despite the fact Rob is in south east Queensland and grows a very different suite of plants to me, it’s well worth a look at his practical and cost effective ideas.
Also, I’m playing a set this Sunday – a rare thing for me at the moment! University study is taking a lot of my brain space and I’ve actively pulled back from live playing to concentrate on getting my degree. But I love this Noteworthy gig a great deal – not to mention the woman who runs it and her business, Meraki Management 🙂
So if you’re in Hobart this Sunday, come down to the Customs House Hotel. The gig starts at 2:30 with Duxie Franklin, I’m on at 3:30, followed by the excellent Finn Seccombe at 4:30. Hope to see some of you Hobart folks there 😀
Debra Manskey 
Jul 23, 2016 @ 04:37:16
Break a leg (or is that just for actors?! If so, ignore me! 😉 ) Some water wicking folk who are a bit closer to home (Melbourne) have excellent blogs that detail water wicking if you are interested. Bev uses all kinds of containers for water wicking and produces most of her veggies that way on her deck (thanks to mass invasions of possums and wallabies and rabbies).
https://foodnstuff.wordpress.com/water-wicking-boxes/
And John is just awesome. He makes “ecobeds” (he gives the full set of plans on his blog so anyone can make them) and has some excellent science behind everything he does. He grows all of his veg in these ecobeds and they always look incredibly healthy.
http://jashxxxxxx.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page_5.html
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Jul 23, 2016 @ 10:35:39
Hi there,
Yes, wicking people are everywhere 😀
I did a fair bit of research on this last year too and I’ve read John’s blog. My personal opinion is his drainage pipe is too small and there’s not enough of it to create a decent reservoir. Also, while it’s beautifully constructed, I think the materials cost would be prohibitive for a lot of backyarders and the weight would be impossible for folks like me (with a physical disability) to build alone. If I was going to build beds of this type I’d probably use steel, a chop and flip IBC or convert some old apple boxes.
Have a look at these clips to see what I mean about the drainage pipe/reservoir ratio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PlBrOnKaQI
and this one for the IBC conversion https://youtu.be/vAFyB35yVeA?list=PLBcWprMIwYYizRYZra6RRbe_mrPdnXu4G
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’ll be great fun to play and catch up with some friends 🙂
Take care and hope you’re well and warm!
D x
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Jul 24, 2016 @ 04:04:38
There are a lot of schools of thought about wicking beds. I headed off to check out the guy who invented it and he says you don’t need rocks or geotextile, just soil! I also found that aquaponics people who integrate their systems with wicking beds tend to use straw as the lowest media so go figure eh? I guess its what works best for you. We can’t afford to replicate John’s beds either so we are going with the fridge wicker idea which was VERY cheap (so cheap that all of our 24 fridge wickers would cost less than a single small wicking bed). We can’t implement them yet as it has been way too wet up here so that means we need to wait till the holidays in September where, fingers crossed, it will hopefully be a bit less soggy up here. Looking forward to seeing how you implement the wicking beds/boxes/whatever you are going to do and learning from it 🙂
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Jul 24, 2016 @ 09:26:28
Yep, for every idea there’s always a gazillion different approaches! I used gravel in the small boxes because I had some on hand. Now that’s run out I’ll be using sand because I have some left over – there’s a pattern here 😛
I’m itching to see how your fridge garden goes – I think it’s a brilliant idea! And yes, I’ll let you know how I go with the barrels 😀
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