Stylish, self watering raised garden beds! How to build

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-c… - 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.

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

The minute I would start to build this a neighbor would complain that I was violating the city front yard setback so congratulations for being in a tolerant neighborhood. Looks fantastic!

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.

It looks fantastic. It's not just you that will get the pleasure of this, but your neighbours and everyone else that walks past to see what has grown.

This is the one of best designed raised bed I’ve ever seen great work👍🏽

Wow! Looks fabulous and beautifully executed. Great to see an Aussie build. Thankyou.😎

I’ve shared this with my wife. I’m also remarkably nervous about how much she’s gonna love this!

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

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!

You gave me hope with my backyard design. I’ve always wanted a bridge over a pond. It’s like 2 videos in one. Thank you so much.

What a nice neighbor great video

It turned out beautifully!

This is 👌 I'm percolating ideas for raised gardens for my yard, this is perfect! Looks fantastic!

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 🌱

Excellent end product - looks like it's right out of a magazine - love everything about it! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!

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!

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.

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.