• L to R: Coffee beans hessian sack, Waterups wicking cells in channel in trench, struggling fruit tree in the foreground - the trench and wicking cells lead to the edge of the tree roots and rain drains from the path and verge downhill to the tree roots
• Completion - first fruit tree
Here’s how to irrigate plants and trees in a dried out road verge which has compacted so that it rejects rain water and sends it, wasted, to the roadside gutter. The tree in the photo above is dying due to lack of water and nutrients. If it survives it will be a poor specimen.
• Completion, second fruit tree
Once the wicking cells are in the trench then the rain from the footpath and verge is directed to the wicking cells and then to the tree roots.
These are the steps to irrigating the tree, hands free.
Dig a trench uphill of the tree - at the higher side of the tree
Place in the trench any of:
Geofabric-covered agricultural drainage pipe
Wicking bed channels and wicking cells such as Waterups (shown in the photo below)
Fill the wicking bed channels and cells with water
Cover the pipe or wicking cells with recycled hessian sacks (from coffee grinding places or cafes which get their potatoes in hessian sacks)
Put turf or mulch - ie straw, dry leaves - over the sacks
Irrigate the mulch to ensure the future rain will easily get through the sacks to the drainage pipe or wicking cells
• The Waterups wicking bed has two parts: a channel or tub to store water, and cells which support soil and material above (the vertical pipe shown in the image is only used where you wish to fill the channel directly with a hose and is not used for road verge solutions) NOTE: the wicking cells are load-bearing.
Now the tree will be watered hands-free by the rain that previously was wasted to the road gutter and then to rivers or the ocean.
• L to R: Coffee bean sack, potato sack (the foot knows)
Other benefits of this solution include:
Rainwater is not wasted to become polluting stormwater;
Reduce flooding, reduce negative impacts of drought;
Done at scale across a few house blocks the summer heat is reduced due to the shade of the trees growing to their potential, and due to there being more moisture in the road verge;
The wicking cells are load-bearing and trafficable;
Renewing community as the plants prompt conversations, shared goals.
• Nasturtium growing in the self-watering road verge in Chippendale - we harvest and use the peppery leaves and flower for salads, scrambled eggs, soups . . . anyone can . . . food for all
Fruit can be harvested from the fruit tree - or other edible plants you may plant such as: rosemary, lemon grass, nasturtium, garlic, bay tree, and so on.
What is the goal?
The practical goal is to get water to where the tree roots are, below the ground, to make the tree grow.
Four weeks later
These photos below were taken four weeks after the sub-surface irrigation was installed and show:
Abundant new green shoots
Tape measuring of the fruit tree height
Fresh compost from nearby coolseat spread over sub-surface irrigation channels will provide nutrients to the tree
• Measured tree height four weeks after sub-surface irrigation installed
• Abundant new plant growth four weeks after subsurface irrigation installed
• Compost from nearby coolseat spread over sub-surface irrigation channel
Height levels of the two fruit trees will be measured again in December and compared to the previous measured heights. Work in progress.