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Modern agriculture is very efficient, growing large volume of food very quickly and cheaply. This food contains a large amount of sugars and energy (probably too much) but may lack the minerals and vitamins which are essential for health. This has led to the widespread occurrence of what is called modern diseases -such as diabetes.


You can supplement your diet by growing your own vegetables and herbs in nutritious soil which is full of minerals. Many herbs have been used for thousands of years to aid health. Growing you own food, rich in minerals and vitamins, won’t necessarily cure decease but will increase your health so your body is better able to combat disease.  Wicking beds are an easy way to grow your own food.


     
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Water - the key to healthy plants

In many cases natural rainfall is variable and cannot provide the soil and the living creatures within the soil with a continuous supply of water. We try and solve this by irrigation, typically by applying water from above.  However there are some intrinsic problems.

First is knowing how much water to apply. If we apply water for a short period of time we only wet the surface so the water quickly dries up with little benefit to the plant and soil creatures. If we apply water for too long the water will pass beyond the root zone, this wastes water but also flushes valuable nutrients from the soil often causing pollution of the river system.

Second it the amount of water retained in the soil is really very small. Soil is generally made up from particles with a wide range in sizes. The large particles exert only very small capillary action so the water just passes straight through. The amount of water which is held after the soil has drained is called the field capacity.

On the other hand the very small particles exert very high capillary forces, so high that the plant cannot extract the water from the soil.  This is called the wilt point.  The water actually available to the plant it the difference between the field capacity and the wilt point.  This is called the available water.

While the actual values vary widely, for example clay has very high field capacity and wilt point while sand has very low field capacity and wilt point the difference between these two values, the available water is small typically only 10% of the total volume of the soil.  Even worse is that the growth to the plants will slow as they find it more difficult to extract the water so the useful water or readily available water is even less, may be only 5% of the soil volume.

The wicking bed™ system

The basic wicking bed system works in its most basic consist of a barrier to the water escaping deep into the soil, this can be made by digging a hole and lining with a plastic sheet or a bucket. Another version is to have a conventional planter pot but instead of having drainage holes in the base it has the drain hole in the side so water accumulated in the base of the planter pot.

It works by preventing the water draining away from the soil, so it becomes saturate rather than at field capacity. The amount of water in the soil at saturation, when all the large holes are filled with water is much higher than field capacity, it could be as much as double the field capacity is a well aerated soil, and as the available water is the amount of water above the wilt point the increase in water holding capacity is significant – multiples of a conventional free draining soil.

Despite being so simple they are very effective, more sophisticated versions can be made with pipe work to distribute the water or an inverted container (with bleed hole) to store the water.

 Not just water

The motivation for the development the wicking bed system is much more than saving time between watering for the home grower.

Our modern agricultural system is extremely efficient in providing us with high calorie high sugar, high fat diet. This diet is often poor in mineral, trace elements and nutrition. This is leading to what is called the diseases of affluence, obesity, diabetes, heart problem and cancer.

Modern agriculture relies heavily on fertilisers, often chemically based which provides ample of the basic plants needs of N,P,K.  There is typically enough of the trace elements in the soil to ensure the plants look healthy, but we as animals need much higher concentration of these minerals, some ten times that of plants.

There are a number of steps in the process of us receiving this balance to our diet.  First there must the basic minerals and trace elements in the soil.  These can be readily added to the soils, there are mines which crush rocks containing these minerals.  However these are insoluble and need the action of soil bacteria to break them down so they can be absorbed by plants

Plants produce a wide range of phytochemical (plant based chemicals ) which are particularly beneficial to health.  A tomato has some ten thousand different chemicals.

However the beneficial soil organism such as the fungi can only flourish with consistent moisture. Part of the benefit of the wicking bed is a simple way of extending time between watering but the major advantage is providing the consistent moisture for the soil biology so we can grow plants high in nutrients.

The simple wicking box, enables virtually anyone even with a window box or veranda to grow at least a limited supply of nutrient rich vegetables or herbs to restore balance to their diet.

Wicking beds may be simple, easy to make and use, but there success lies in the soil.  Read more

   
     
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