Are you looking to build raised vegetable gardens? In this video I'll show you step by step how to build low maintenance, self watering, wicking bed gardens using IBC tanks. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
Here are a few frequently asked questions I thought I'd reply to here to save us all some time! 1) How does the water wick up without a wick or depression into the gravel? Honestly, I don't know. Perhaps there is enough contact on the sides or movement through condensation to start capillary action. Perhaps it is not working as well as it could be, but I've made it through two hot summers where we've been away for up to 10 days and the beds are doing great. If you are thinking of building your own wicking beds, you may want to tuck the geotextile or weed matting material in on the edges to ensure there is contact right to the bottom of the tank. I may even try and do this in a future video and experiment. Here is a good read on the pros and cons of wicking beds if you are looking to build one yourself - deepgreenpermaculture.com/2016/04/03/wicking-bed-construction-2/ - which does suggest tucking the material in on the sides. 2) Why are we wearing masks outside? At the time of filming Melbourne had just come out of it's first lockdown and wearing of masks was highly recommended to reduce the spread of COVID. 3) What size are the tanks / garden beds? The IBC tanks are 1200x1000 including cage. 500mm high without the base when cut in half. The smaller 2x beds are 2160x1380. The larger 3x bed is 3170x1380. Gaps are 500mm. The height of the beds vary as the ground is not level. 700mm at the highest point. The mesh frames are 650mm high. 4) What did it cost? IBC wicking beds, especially in a design like this, are not the cheapest option when it comes to gardening. In fact, they're one of the most expensive. These beds are under a big gum tree, so planting in ground was not an option. Normal raised beds might have worked, but gum tree roots are really invasive and I wanted something stylish that added value to the house and front yard. The build cost about $3-4,000 AUD. A new picket fence would have been about 1/3 of that.
Thanks for the advice Nunya, although I'm not sure there's actually a question there. The soil was hydrophobic, nutrient depleted and full of weeds, so would have been terrible for growing veggies.
@@TheBiteSizedGarden mate fills the bottom for ya. hydrophobic means fck all, just needs reconditioned. Same with weeds, just green manure. Couldve saved yaself couple of hundy in both dirt and a skip and not dumped good dirt
I just love that you waited a year to show the actual result with plants. It looks great ! Many times with this kind of project, we are left wondering how this will evolve after a while. Thanks for the great quality of both your craft and video editing work
Ha! This is probably more to do with me being too busy to edit the footage than any great plan but i agree. Seeing how a project holds up over time is a great end to a build video. It’s something I will try to do in more videos if I can. Thanks!
Agreed! I love people sharing what they build, but a lot of times you hear "This is my first time building this and here's what I did!" I'm less interested in copying something like that than "I've built a ton of these, and here are the results a year later."
not only are your carpentry and design skills off the hook fabulous but the editing and overall production of this video was terrific. The finished product is quite impressive. Many thanks for sharing
For those who don’t have access to ibc totes they sell large cement mixing tubs at big box stores cheap. They work well for this method. Fill the bottom with rocks or hydro pebbles and use a piece of pvc to go to the bottom. Cheers. Stunning build, really looks nice.
I had a hell of a time find ibc totes that weren’t brand new and $400+, never thought of cement tubs. I eventually found inexpensive ibc food grade totes from a guy who had access to a pet store that had ibc totes that were filled with fish oil. A nightmare to wash out, probably didn’t need to but I did and it was worth the expense and time. My area has become a desert in sw ks and I hated the idea of watering daily by hand so wicking beds are a win in my area but finding ibc totes is nearly impossible. At the time I could only transport one container so since then I got a metal tank with a bottom that I’ll be using in combo with the ibc totes. Definitely try out lava rock/scoria as it’s a fabulous wicking material and isn’t as heavy or messy as sand
Wow! Fave part of your whole creation was the end where you created your design first with cardboard and milk containers then manifested it into reality. Absolutely amazing!
I love this method. Last summer I took a tall v-shaped planter about three feet tall. Added some rocks on the bottom for stability. About midway I put in a plastic round tray that is supposed to go under an indoor plant so it doesn’t drip. The tray is about two inches tall. It rested around the middle of the pot. I cut three pieces of 2x4 to support it. I put lava rocks in the tray. Then I put soil and planted a flowering Alamanda just above the tray. I never put a barrier between the lava rocks and the soil but used the smallest rocks in the tray. I also added a tomato trellis so that the Alamanda had something to climb on. Any excess rain water flowed over the sides of the tray. The Alamanda bloomed profusely all summer. I think I watered it just once. Absolutely a no care system, did a two week vacation when there was very little rain and it was still one happy plant. I’m so enthusiastic about this system. With all the water issues going on I believe this to be the wave of the future for food production. Coupled with tiered gardening it’s coming! Keep experimenting everyone!
I love your garden bed and the fences. It added so much value to the property. It's so eye pleasing and give you so much options to grow your own foods or flowers. Well done!
These beds and video is gorgeous?"! I love how organized and well done everything is. So thorough and...user friendly? Efficient? I can't think of the word, oh my gosh! That floor! AlThe whole garden is gorgeous! So impressive 🌱
Scoria aka lava rock (although expensive in certain areas) is superior to gravel for wicking up water to the soil above. Gravel doesn’t wick but I’ve seen it used as a way to store water surrounding the ag pipe or containers but you really want a wicking material for the best results. Alot of ppl use sand or scoria but sand is messy whereas the lava rock is lighter weight and does such a good job I have no issues getting water up to my soil. Anyways a tip for anyone who wasn’t aware
the experiment by Chris Curtis showed gravel and scoria worst and sand and ?? dust best.. worth a look i am so hung up on the wicking and fabric or plastic used. if a material (plastic) is used to separate soil from water reservoir how does it wick and if soil separated by fabric and can wick through fabric how is it any different then soil being wet all the time?
Lots of positive comments here, and I can only add to them. Really great idea, excellent diy and truly transformative for your front yard. Great work! 😊
This just gave me such a good idea for my tiny front yard. I had no clue what to do with it, and have had some gravel on it for a year now. This is a great idea, thank you so much!
Nice job, I'm just finishing up making 20 of them & was after an idea for finishing the top to hide the plastic. If you make more, we found that a cordless reciprocating saw cuts through both the cage & plastic while its all together. We used the horizontal cage bars as a blade guide for a nice clean cut, took maybe 1 minute per ibc to cut them up.
Thanks for the tip Andrew. I've never used one before, but am keen to give it a go. There have been plenty of jobs where I've thought it'd be good to have one, maybe it's time!
Good looking beds!! I also use some IBC raised bed with success. But yours look better, it give me ideas to improve mine! I worked in food industries and IBC plastic is not permeable, hence it can be washed and rinse. I made holes at bottom and left bottom valve/ 6'' cap open to let excess water (rain) flow out. I filled the bottom with old wood and tree leaves as it will transform in food when it decays and it is free. Then I made a mix of peat moss/compost/black earth to fill the top 12''. Perfect ground for tomatoes and easy to reach! Thanks for sharing your project.
Great Work. 2nd hand IBC tanks, look for the ones that have had AdBlue in them. AdBlue is 68% distilled water and 32% urea. They are easily cleaned out with tap water and should not harm any plants as urea is a fertiliser.
exactly what I'm looking for. Subscribed. More please. Looking to learn about self watering garden. Cardboard model is brilliant! Gonna steal that. Thx.
Wonderful project mate, beautifully made. Cudos. I've found through experimentation that it did work better for me to skip the fibercloth and perhaps also gravel. I think it might be because the plants can more easily access the finest particles of nutrients that would otherwise flow down with rain and be beyond reach below the firbercloth. I got 3-4000 cherry tomatoes from one plant in the equivailent of one IBC. As well as several hundred cucumbers another year. I also added bokashi composted food waste as well as composting worms and lots of compost to get these results, but controlled tested it with boxes with intact firbercloth that could not come close to these results. Some plants might not like to stand with the roots in water but since there is the overflow security I don't think its going to be a big problem. Thanks for the neat video :)
Thanks Mathias, It sounds like your experiments are reaping huge rewards. This year has been a bonanza of beans and cherry tomatoes for me too. The cucumbers started well but I think they fell behind the tomatoes and never recovered. The timing of your comment is interesting as just this weekend I re-planted two of my beds, but before I did, I dug down to see how the soil was. After almost two years, the weed matting has almost totally gone. Roots have made it down the side, and so has some soil. You're probably right with not needing the barrier, but I wonder if the gravel will allow more space for water storage. I also added a lot of bokashi, semi composted material and some sheep manure to build the soil back up, so hoping to reap rewards in the coming months! All the best, Josh
Going on year 4 with these. Mine are deeper and set up on cender blocks so I don't have to kneel in my old age. I started putting a large shallow tupaware box upside down at the bottom with the lid on and poke holes in the top which now the bottom. Way cheaper than drain pipe. No gravel, no fabric, just dirt. Got about 20 expanding another 20 this year. These things are amazing for dry climates or bad soil.
Ooh. An Aussie. Ive just got my first ever garden. (Im 61). Clueless. Been looking around youtube gardening channels. Good finding Aussies because of the conditions of our land are specific. Don’t know where you are. Im in the Wimmera
How exciting! Don't be over awed and don't ever feel like you're a failure if a plant dies, every gardener does it, no matter what level of experience. Get friendly with your local nursery, they are a great source of local plant knowledge. Above, remember that different plants like different conditions, so make sure you can provide what a plant needs before planting it! Good luck!
Nice work. We've got a lot of those pods and I'm going to show this to my already busy husband. but thanks it looks stunning. Was wanting them as a raised bed garden but thought they looked ugly. Never occurred to me to cover them up. Nice work!!
I put about 12" of gravel in mine and drill the drain hole 12" from the bottom. Annual vegetables, herbs, and flowers are fine in 12" of soil. I put porous landscape fabric over the gravel to slow roots from getting into the gravel so I don't get anaerobic decomposition of dead roots. I don't bother with the black pipe, and I remove the bases. I watered once last year, but some years I water 2 or 3 times. I've had over a decade of excellent results and moles are no longer a problem. @@City_Homesteader
Your makeover really transformed the look of the front yard, very impressive! I love how the bricks enhanced the look. I'm inspired by your garden design and the use of IBC tanks. I was considering purchasing several galvanized raised beds for a spring project, but change of plans. Your use of IBC tanks with the framing is exactly the look and function that I want and will now plan, design , and build my own. One question, what is/was the purpose of the netting? Thanks
Good luck with your build! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. The netting was to stop the neighbourhood cats from using the fresh soil as a litter tray until I was ready to plant and mulch!
Each to their own 😉, they are certainly a good size, although I would worry about drainage using them for compost. Let me know how you go. Speaking of compost, I just uploaded a video on compost, you might want to have a look - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oOjijCiZdmk.html
Seeing how it's working! I can't say much against how you did it! Most wicking tubs have the soil that goes down in to water reserve to wick the water up to the plants. They look great!
Wow, this is good man. I live in terrace house with about 20x20feet porch. I hace soace about 5 x 8 feed for gardening. So i need to build a mini version of this design.
all aspects of the video, production, delivery, etc... absolute quality. I learned a lot of things from your video that I could have done better and a few things I think I did better. Mainly the overflow. It gets very dry where I am in the summer months so my outlet is extended upward to the level of the scoria reservoir. That way, when I'm filling it in the drier months, I know it's full when it starts to overflow. If I need to empty it, I just swivel it downward so the egress is at its lowest point to get the max water out. This is Australia so droughts and floods. Also, the one you used the pallet instead of gravel/ scoria, are you able to manually water that one or is it left to nature? Your carpentry far exceeds mine. I learnt a lot there too. Very beautiful outcome.
Thanks Dean, I learnt a lot from this build too - never too old to learn! I'm in Melbourne and it usually gets dry here in summer but the last couple of years it's been much more humid, so it will be interesting to see how they go if/when the dry summers return. The pallet one in the middle still has gravel in it, and yes, I can fill it using an ag pipe hose like the others if it gets too dry. Cheers Josh
