secret greenhouse -- planting beds

Rick,

also have questions re: your planting bed design.

you mentioned in the welcome post that the beds do not drain to the ground. are they similar to a wicking bed (holds water in the bottom with a drainage hole ~2" from the bottom)? where does any excess moisture drain?

do the concrete blocks in your beds wick moisture? i like the simplicity of using blocks but from what i've observed those blocks accumulate moisture when in contact with moist ground and my concern is in keeping any moisture away from wood framing (rot, termites, etc.) if the blocks are also connected to the foundation.

siu-yu man wrote:Rick,

also have questions re: your planting bed design.

you mentioned in the welcome post that the beds do not drain to the ground. are they similar to a wicking bed (holds water in the bottom with a drainage hole ~2" from the bottom)? where does any excess moisture drain?

do the concrete blocks in your beds wick moisture? i like the simplicity of using blocks but from what i've observed those blocks accumulate moisture when in contact with moist ground and my concern is in keeping any moisture away from wood framing (rot, termites, etc.) if the blocks are also connected to the foundation.

Hmmm- I don't rember saying that mine don't drain to the ground... in fact, the do.. I have material in my beds much like you would find in Hugelculture, and in the bottom of each bed is washed stone that drains to the natural clay underneath...

We did use a sealant on the blocks, to keep moisture from permeating the blocks. Also- once the block walls were put in, we filled all the blocks in the entire block structure with concrete for strength, stability and additional thermal mass.

sorry i misread on the drainage. that makes sense as i remember seeing gravel on the floor of the greenhouse in your homegrown food summit presentation.
nice idea on the sealant & inner fill.
thanks a bunch for answering my questions.
we have a porch in which your concept would work perfectly.