All grown on recycled laundry water

Hi Alan,

I noticed your beds don’t have an overflow outlet. During large rain events what is there to prevent your beds from becoming saturated and drowning everything growing in them. The beds could even potentially burst open from the mass of all the water.

Also, when you use grey water, what measures do you take to prevent the build up of salts, detergents and minerals in the bed? Over time these will accumulate and could potentially be harmful to plants and worms as these compounds don’t evaporate. I’m even reluctant to use tap water in my wicking beds, rain water is the best option.

Using gravel instead of woodchips is a better long term solution unless you don’t mind rebuilding the bed every time the wood rots and the reservoir silts up as it decomposes.

I think these issues need to be addressed to save your potential customers alot of heartache. Wicking beds are great and are low maintenace provided the gardener is aware of their limitations and the underlying principles if how they work.

Adam