Meanwhile out the front the Wicking bed team quietly and quickly constructed their raised garden and planted it out. It was a tranquil little oasis to retire to whenever I felt a little overwhelmed by so many people in such a little space out back. Yeah I know it doesn’t take much to daze me.

We thought it would be nice to grow some perennial beans from the bed over the window in summer to offer some passive shading from the harsh Australian sun. We decided on a wicking bed because we had such a fail last year trying to grow things in this spot. There is plenty of light but the existing Silver Princess eucalypts are beautiful but deadly to any annual in drinking distance of their cunning roots. Australian native trees are notoriously opportunistic when it comes to water and nutrients and don’t like to share. So as well as being very water efficient, the Wicking bed, sealed from the ground (and gum tree roots) by a waterproof membrane seemed like a good option. The bottom is filled with scoria with a water pipe at the top to get water right deep down to the bottom where it slowly wicks up to where it is needed overtime. An overflow pipe stops it getting waterlogged.

With the back garden so swiftly denuded of plants, it was salve to see some plants go in. They had been so patient waiting upstairs to get their roots into some real soil.

Please leave a comment, I’d love to know what’s going on in your garden.