. . . is a method of collecting water in the bottom of a planter and using some kind of fabric or absorbent material to draw the water up to the plant's roots. Variations on this idea is often found as part of the design of commercially sold houseplant containers. This website describes a variant form of wick gardening used outdoors.
This website describes a form of wick gardening known as "the wading pool garden" The techniques illustrated here came from the ECHO farm in Ft. Myers, Florida. This tutorial uses a 45" diameter wading pool to demonstrate the method. However once you learn the technique, you can apply it to other containers as well. The wading pool garden is a combines traditional wick gardening with the "shallow pool" method. These gardens are used in urban areas on top of the ground, on rooftops, on decks and even on asphalt to grow flowers and vegetables. Dr. Martin Price, co-founder of ECHO, and Dr. Job Ebenezer, president of Technology for the Poor, are wading pool garden pioneers who have both posted online information about the science and techniques used. More information about these resources is located under "Other Links" and on the page entitled Gardening As Misson. |  Above is a wading pool garden in front of Trinity Reformed Church in Munster, Indiana. The garden is part of a demonstration of a number of wick gardening containers on display at the church. This photo was taken in June 2010. The plants had been in the wading pool for a month when this photo was taken. |