It is taking longer than I planned to build the wicking bed, but I got a lot closer to completion today. The completion is in sight and seeing that I want to plant by the winter equinox, 22 June, I think that it will be achieved.
A hammer stapler helps intstall the plastic liner
There were a couple of items that I was procrastinating about, getting staples for my hammer stapler and getting some old carpet for the base.
The carpet might seem unusual, but I wanted to have a base that would protect the plastic liner. I needed to source some carpet that had been pulled up from houses. After mucking around and looking on Gumtree for free carpet for a week or two, I finally hit upon the idea of going to a carpet shop and seeing if they had any carpet that had been pulled out of houses where they laid new carpet.
Sourcing carpet for the wicking bed build
I strolled into Just Carpets, Virginia, spoke with Darrin and he took me down the back to a big pile of rolled up carpet and said, “Help yourself, take it all if you want.” I loaded four rolls into the car and drove off feeling pleased with the trip.
On Friday, I wrote a list of things I wanted to complete by Sunday
- carpet wicking bed
- plastic lining installed
- plane edges of uprights
- finish sides and tops
A layer of carper was intsalled before the plastic liner
Installing the plastic liner
The rest of the carpet was laid on top of the liner giving it protection when I worked in the bed
I was able to get all the above done.I still have the following to complete before planting:
- finish painting
- install the agpipe and filling spout
- fill with soil and compost and water
- install shade cloth
- install wire for trellising
- plant
Painting done, the wicking bed is now ready to fill, then shadecloth
A couple of years ago I used a Silky pole saw to reduce the height of a macadamia in the back yard. It was close to 12 metres high (40ft). I cut the branches into small lengths and stacked it up. I now have a use for it. I will turn this wicking bed into a hugulculture wicking bed. (see this post on hugulculture)