Community food sovereignty

   

The Self-Watering Raised Bed

Along with six of our neighbors we are planning on starting a community food sovereignty initiative where anyone in our neighborhood will feel free to harvest what they need from any of the raised beds spread across the neighborhood.

Hopefully, if this experiment works, we can expand to more yards and greater food sovereignty for our community.

Last year I built a raised bed and grew Detroit Red  beets in it. They were intensively planted and so they produced much, much more edible leaves than we could have eaten. Since the raised bed was part of our front-yard garden and easily accessed from the sidewalk by passers by, I offered to some of our neighbors that they could harvest leaves for themselves.

To my delight quite a few of our neighbors took us up on this proposition. Beet greens are highly nutritious, and they grow very quickly. And mine were used in salads, cooking, smoothies, and the like in many friends’ houses throughout the Summer and Fall.

As a result of this and a history of sharing gardening and chickens with my immediate neighbors, I had the idea that if several of us in the immediate vicinity had raised beds, accessible from the sidewalk, we could all grow food for each other. 

Thus was born the Community Food Sovereignty initiative on Falcon Street!

Above is a picture of the prototype raised bed, seeded and put in the space between the sidewalk and the road in front of our house. I’ll move it to a better space (behind a low fence) but I placed it as seen in the photograph so that anyone interested in having one in their front yard, anyone wanting to participate in our Community Food Sovereignty (CFS) initiative will have a chance to come and look at it.  

The main bit is a two-foot by two-foot by four-foot stock tank more typically used for feeding or watering livestock. 

We got ours at Wilco in Battleground, WA.

The sweet thing about this type of raised bed is that it has a water reservoir in the bottom and wicks that pull that water into the soil. The effect is that you only have to water every few weeks, even in the dry summer. 

Here’s a sketch of how it works by me, an amateur. Please be forgiving. 

Also, because you use (or should use) an essentially sterile substrate there are very few weeds to pull. Plus, being a raised bed, weeding is hardly more than an occasional yanking up of a weed or two as you pass by.

This is the easiest way to grow food I’ve ever seen.

Here are the things I used for this particular bed, but there a myriad of other ways to build it. I tried to use the materials I had at hand. If you’re interested in being part of this CFS I’ll build one for you for the price of materials.

We will be working out who will plant what in the coming few months. 

MATERIALS

Stock Tank

Bag Perlite

Bag Vermiculite

coconut coir (replaces peat moss)

slow release organic fertilizer

Fencing wire

Landscaping cloth

Old plastic planting pots

2” pvc pipe

BUILD STEPS

I had these ten inch high planter pots just laying around. I cut a half inch hole in them to aid in water ingress, but that’s not necessary as water will get in no matter what.

 

After seeing how much substrate it took to fill the bin I wished that I’d used larger pots. The next one I will make I’m going to use cow wire to build a taller superstructure under the soil which will mean less of the expensive substrate materials and also make a larger water reservoir.

I placed the pots upside down in the bin and added 3 inch galvanized fence wire on top of them. 

Then came the wicks. I used slightly taller old plastic pots. I cut them in half and rolled them and held them together with wire bands. All together too much work. I should have just used some of the PVC pipe I’ve got sitting around from the old “farm” we used to own.

Here you see the ‘wicks’ in their place.

 

I forgot to add the filler tube until later, but this is when I should have placed it.

    

Next, I drilled an overflow hole in the stock bin about one inch below the tops of the upturned pots. This should create an airspace between the top of the water reservoir and the bottom of the soil. The soil in raised beds needs to be oxygenated from below as well as from above.

Here it is in Action.

Next was the landscape cloth as a floor for the substrate. I’ve pondered the best way to do this. Probably some kind of plastic sign, like old political signs, or something. But don’t forget to drill holes for the oxygen. 

I lined the wicks with landscape cloth and packed, very hard, vermiculite into them. This aids in wicking the water into the soil.

then it was adding the substrate, a one-third each mix of vermiculite, perlite, and coconut coir. Added loosely and then patted down. 

Bummer, though, for me as I ended up having to add a whole bag of organic potting soil. It shouldn’t hurt as the main thing is the substrate has to be well draining. Mainly, you just don’t want any heavy soils or contaminants. 

I forgot to take pics, but as the substrate was laid I layered in some Slow Release Organic Fertilizer (SROF). This should be enough to feed the plants for the first couple of months.

And, here’s the final product being filled with water. For this Beta/Demonstration model I planted Butter Crunch lettuce, Mizuna, and some Scarlet Kale. These are all varieties that might actually germinate in February. We will see. I’m always optimistic?

 

COST

Bearing in mind that things change, and that I’m building these for my immediate neighbors as a way to kickstart our CFS in Bellwood Heights, here’s what I estimate one for you will cost if you’re my neighbor, or you plan to build it yourself.

Stock Tank 2x2x4 $90

Cow Wire and fence wire $6

Yard Cloth $2

PVC Pipe $1

Perlite $18

Vermiculite $23

Coconut Coir $22

Total being $162 plus 8% tax, roughly $175. not bad for getting to stroll out of your house and pick a salad, or get greens for a smoothie this summer and fall. Plus, the next year there’s virtually no maintenance. The substrate should last a few years, and is easily freshened, anyway