Wicking Beds Working Bee

The weather did turn out to be perfect, and it was heart warming and exciting to see the number of families arrive for the working bee. In fact we had so many hands that the job that was expected to take four hours was over and done within an hour and a half! Tu meke TCS!

The task was to fill the new beds with planting medium, but the way these wicking beds are filled is a bit more complicated than just loading them up with soil in the traditional way. For a step-by-step account of the process, take a look at this post on Mount Intermediate’s blog.

Filling the beds like this may take a bit more time and effort at this stage, but it’s going to be worth it. Instead of watering these beds from the top, like you’d usually do, these beds will be watered down a permeable pipe that runs along the bottom of the bed. The pipe will gradually release the water into the layer of sand at the bottom. The sand will hold the water while the plants’ roots grow downwards strong and deep to seek it out. This means there won’t be water sitting on top of the soil and evaporating like there would be in a usual garden bed. Better for our plants, better for our environment and better for our school’s water bill – everybody wins.

The Good Neighbour team briefing us on the process.

Placing the liner in the bottom of a bed. The liner will ensure the water gets held in the bed. 

Adding the permeable pipe along the bottom of the bed. The pipe has lots of small holes in it and has been wrapped in frost cloth. The water will still be able to pass through the frost cloth, but the cloth will prevent the holes from getting clogged with dirt.

The sandpit ‘donated’ the sand to cover the pipes at the bottom of the beds.

Once the pipes were covered with sand, 20cm of mulch was put on top of that. Then we added layers of pea straw and compost, building them up like a lasagne until the bed was full. 

Before we knew it the beds were ready to plant and it was time for our morning tea BBQ, all provided by Good Neighbour’s Food Rescue programme.

Great mahi everyone!

A gigantic thank you to all who came to help – the families, the teachers, the gardeners and of course Good Neighbour. Everyone who pitched in today has contributed to enriching both our school and our community. We’re sure the wicking beds will be an asset to our whole community for many years into the future.