What is a Wicking Bed? A wicking bed is a type of self-watering raised garden bed that is both water-saving and time-efficient. It has a water reservoir at the bottom and growing medium (soil) on the top, which are separated by a layer of fabric. This allows the plant roots to ‘wick’ water up as
. For vegetable gardeners, one of the most important jobs is to revitalise your soil for the next growing season, and resting your veggie beds will help with that.
About 8 years ago, when I first started creating regular content on backyard vegetable growing in raised beds (particularly the high sided ones) there wasn't much interest. However, these days there are plenty more people who have joined the raised bed "revolution" and realise this method of food gardening is the best. Initially, I found (to
When I built our first raised vegetable garden beds 10 years ago there was no such thing as "kid friendly" or "vegetable friendly" treated pine wood, so I decided to line the inside of the sleepers with builders plastic just in case there was a risk of chemicals used in treating the sleepers (such as
Yesterday, I received an email asking what tool I recommend for high raised bed gardens and it just so happens there is a special tool I do use all the time for my raised beds gardens and it's called an entrenching tool (or ET). I tend to always misspeak and call it an ET tool,
Where you position you vegetable garden, patch, allotment, or whatever you want to call it is very important for a few reasons. Firstly, most food crops need a good amount of sunlight to produce well and grow strong – food plants need a lot of energy to produce and it's the sun that provides most
When I first started adventuring into self sufficiency, in particular vegetable growing, I was extremely proud to have built my first vegetable patch – a square wooden sleeper style 2.4 x 2.4 metre raised box. My first few attempts at growing vegetables in this patch were encouraging but not terrific; however, after some trial and
Introduction (This article was reviewed in July 2012) Tiller the Season to be Growing Trul-a-lul-a-la blah blah blah blah… I know the title is drawing a long bow for a Christmas theme but I've never been a very orthodox person and I guess if you have been following my articles over the past 6 months you'll
It's about time I wrote something on landscaping as it is the base of all gardens for crying out loud. And, without a good landscaping plan (even if it means just using the natural landscape itself) all the best intentions won't enable a garden to reach its full potential – no matter how hard we
Most of us know how much fun (and useful) gardening can be, especially things like: raising or planting-out seedlings and facilitating the beginnings of life, harvesting those crisp vegetable and fruit crops fresh from the backyard, selecting those fragrant herbs, or pruning and admiring those ornamentals strategically positioned around our home. However, gardening isn't all
Every climate and food garden has a particular time of year – a window of opportunity – when growing food is at its best. It’s extremely important to know when the beginning of this growing window is in your location; because, if you miss this window of growing opportunity it can set your food growing,
So you’d like to grow some of your own food but you can’t be bothered digging the garden bed several times a year and managing annual vegetable crops. Well, then why not grow an edible perennial garden bed instead and have the best of both worlds – home grown produce with minimal work that looks
Choosing the best type of raised garden bed to make or buy for a vegetable garden can become quite confusing these days with so many different options available. This article gives the pros and cons of the most popular types of raised garden beds to hopefully give people a better idea as to what might
Some of us have our own allotment (our backyard) where we can grow much of the produce we require and others rent an allotment of land or join a community garden to get the same results. At the end of the day, is it better to own an allotment, rent one, or join a community
This article was edited on 29th Dec 2016. Raised vegetable garden beds are a great way to garden but what is the best way to fill them with soil and how much (if any) drainage should be used? A little while back, I wrote about different types of raised garden beds so this post can
Do you find kneeling, crouching, and bending in the vegetable garden is getting harder as you get older? Well, you’re not alone! But, don’t despair there's an easy solution that will keep you plodding in your vegetable allotment until you’re pushing daisy’s yourself! It’s called Stand up Gardening. That’s right all we have to do
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
