Progress on the IBC Wicking Beds Part 1: Functional Aesthetics

in #ghsc5 years ago

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Have to admit this is a 'later post', as things got interrupted by the HF20. But, I feel like I have to post it before I post the update on the garden, or things would all be out of whack, and, I would have wasted time writing about this when it's kinda worthwhile, well for me anyway. So, here's the run down on the start of the wicking beds - it's actually been quite an arduous undertaking but I do hope it sorts itself out in the long run, and is worthwhile! Would love to hear from any of you gardeners out there that might have given this kind of system ago!



We don't do things by 'alves, round 'ere. You'd think making some wicking beds out of IBC containers would be straight forward - cut them in half, whack 'em in the spot ya want 'em, right? And being the first day of holidays, we could do that, and chill, right?

Yeah, well, that's not quite how it works round ours as we have this OCD thing where we don't want things to be merely functional, we want them to look good too. And when it's holidays, we just get up and do ridiculous and time consuming projects until we finally start to de-stress, which is usually after about a week.


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First job was lining the metal trough with plastic and putting in a tank fitting for the overflow pipe, silconing it in against the plastic so it won't leak. That's just sitting there ready for stones and soil now. When it's done we might do a dtube on the finished product if I can wrap my head around being on cameara.

We then chopped our IBC in half - we're going to start with one and see how the season goes. If it's super successful and does save us water the way we want it to, we'll put in another two. Most of the other vegetable beds are just going to lay fallow for the summer as I don't want to be constantly watering. I'm going to experiment with some tomatoes in the ground with ollas too - have you heard of this watering system? If not, never fear, I'm sure I'll post about it.

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So, we then put them in place and saw how FUGLY they are, and thus got into the woodpile (gawd, there's another job to be done - burning off the crap wood and the useless tree branches, and sorting out what's junk, otherwise it's just a house for snakes and spiders) and found a heap of half decent redgum to make a fence from to disguise/hide them.


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Have yet to source some mushroom compost, but some appropriate stones are being delivered on Monday for the bottom of the wicking beds. Should be up and running by the end of the holidays with any luck! At least we don't see ugly plastic containers now from the kitchen window - once they have mulch on top and vegetables grow up in them they'll look awesome, don't you think?

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Finished by dark, lit an outdoor fire, got fish and chips and a few beers for tea - feels like a good day's work done. Far more fulfilling than paid work, to be sure.

Hope your weekend is going awesome, everyone! May your day be productive, and maybe a little bit relaxing as well!



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Nice i hope the hard work on the wicking beds pays off.

Thanks, me too, I'm sure - well positively certain - you'll get an update soon lol.

Congratulations, nice work! I love it when a garden is planned and we'll taken care of, not just left to be.

Thanks! It's hard work to keep on top of it, but it's so rewarding when we do! I love just sitting there having a beer and watching the sun go down and thinking -aaaah....

I know that first hand, my dad has a garden and I'm helping a lot :)

They do look awesome, you did a lot of work there and your efforts paid off. The garden looks amazing! 💚

Thankyou lovely. I just had a bath to sooth my aching muscles... ! So rewarding though...x

oh my gosh, the garden is already looking gorgeous! that fence looks very stylish - I like it. I bet it will look great when you've got plants growing.

Oh, you know when you put plants in and you check them every two seconds and they don't grow? And then you turn around and you have 50 massive zucchinis and you're trying to give them to your neighbours? Yeah, that.

you certainly don't do things by halves, I have never used this system so eager to hear how yours goes. It looks real well with the wood round it though, they sure are some nice planks you got there and the rest of the garden looks great. Well done you two xxx

wow... I bet, it took a lot of energy to make that lovely garden. I wonder how amazing the result and fruit or plant which produce from this garden :)

I will definitely post an update! Xx

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