There are a multitude of options out there on how you construct your garden on your Kippen House garden roof coop. It is essentially a raised garden bed...but on a chicken coop. There are drain holes constructed with the garden roof, but the placement of these drain holes is determined by the owner. In general, raised garden beds come with a few characteristics that need to be dealt with. The soil dries out faster thus they need to be watered often. You also need good drainage to avoid having the roots in saturated soil (which would rot the roots). One method that combats all these issues is constructing your garden so you are watering sub soil level...or sub irrigation.
There are two forms of sub irrigation that I am researching. One I will refer to as sub irrigation planters (SIP's) and one I will call 'Wicking Gardens'. SIP's and wicking gardens are very similar in that you deliver the water to your plants at the root level versus at the top of the soil. By watering at the root level you are delivering the water efficiently to where the plant needs it. Also, you reduce the amount of water evaporation at the top of the soil. This results in using water very efficiently, therefore you water less often and plants do not experience large fluctuations of water deprivation. If theory holds true, you will have a bountiful garden!
I am currently testing both types of gardens. One is a product I found at IKEA that is essentially a wicking garden and the other is a tutorial for creating your own SIP!
I had previously posted about wicking gardens and found a lot of my precedents coming from Australia, whereas my SIP research seems to be mainly US based. The difference between the two is how the sub-soil water is distributed (wicked) to the plants. With a wicking garden, the water is wicked via a horizontal wick. With the SIP's, the water is wicked via a vertical wick. (wicking: the best analogy I have heard is picture yourself standing in a shallow pool of water wearing jeans. If the bottom cuff of your jeans are in the water, over time you will become soaked as the water is wicked up.)
With the SIP concept you allow the soil to dip INTO your water reservoir section and act as your 'wicking' medium or with the 'wicking garden' concept you keep the soil OUT of the water reservoir section and allow a horizontally laid piece of landscape fabric wick the water to be drawn up by the soil.
WICKING GARDEN My first test is very similar to my previous post about a wicking garden. I found this container at Ikea! It separates the water reservoir from the soil section. There is a rigid plastic piece inside the planter that creates a false bottom for the soil. Under this false bottom is your water reservoir. You still water below the soil line via a tube connecting to the water reservoir. The only oddity about this concept is I do not know how the water 'wicks' to the soil? The plastic piece inside is slotted, but it's not an absorbant material like the landscape fabric. There is a guage attached to the watering tube that lets you know if the planter is low on water. Perhaps this guage allows a bit of water into the soil level and that is how the wicking process works? I guess I should have checked this out before planting my plant!
IKEA PS FEJÖ
This is a diagram of how the layers interact with each other to create the wicking garden.
Sub Irrigation Planter For the sub irrigation planter I was not lucky enough to find one already constructed. So I had to make one, which was very easy and actually pretty fun!
I found a very good visual tutorial from Inside Urban Green to help. I highly suggest reading some posts on this website to help you understand the concept behind SIP's. It is a bit confusing at first, only because it is a very elementary concept to grasp but it is not how we as a society have understood how to water vegetation. So you have to look at it with fresh eyes.
I started with a 12 gallon rubbermaid tote. Lined the bottom of the tote with upside down nursery plant containers. This is my water reservoir section.
You can use a variety of other products to create your water reservoir section. Upside down yogurt containers, upside down take-out condiment cups etc. The key is to use something about 2" high, with holes poked through them to let the water flow freely between the containers.
Drill two holes into the side of the tote, at the top of the water reservoir level. (Top of holes align with top of the nursery plant containers)
Cut a small circle out of the top of one nursery plant container. The circle needs to be large enough to accept the open end of a 16 oz water bottle.
Insert the water bottle opening into the plant container opening. Mark the top of the planting container onto the water bottle so you know where to cut the bottom off at. Cut the bottom off the water bottle. This water bottle is the funnel that you will use to water at sub soil level.
Fill the tote with soil. One note about the soil. Make sure you use potting soil that is suitable for indoor or outdoor planters. Or you could make your own! (more on that formula later!) The soil CANNOT be top soil from your garden/yard. It needs the special additives that allow it to retain moisture and stay lightweight. Also, make sure you get the soil into all the valleys created by the upside down plant containers.
Plant your plants. (I chose to plant a mini-salad bar!) Pour water into your water bottle funnel until water starts to come out of your overflow drain holes. (Note: You could fasten landscape fabric or screening over the holes to prevent soil from washing out if it becomes an issue.) The water bottle STAYS put. It is like your gas tank...fill 'er up when you need more water in your container.
Here is a diagram I found on the Inside Urban Green website of how this concept works.
www.InsideUrbanGreen.org
And there you have it! My two sub irrigation planters. I'll let you know if anything dies! In the meantime, if you have any insight or clarification please comment. I am really excited about this and think it would really help everyone have a slice of gardening. You don't need a yard to grow healthy produce!
The possibilities are endless on what you can plant on the green roof of your urban chicken coop! How about plants that attract butterflies! These nectar rich flowers would not only add beauty but little fluttering visitors.
You will need to plant two types of food for your butteflies. Plant tissue (like small shrubbery) for when they are caterpillars and nectar-rich flowers for when they are winged adults. I suggest planting the shrubbery and tall perennials on the ground around your Kippen House chicken coop and some annual flowers, herbs or shallow depth perennial flowers on your garden roof!
Following are some suggestions that are suitable for caterpillars;
hollyhock
violet
clover
aster
Plant a variety of flowers that are able to provide nectar from Spring to Fall. Butterflies also prefer the colors purple, orange, yellow and red. Below is a visual list of some nectar-rich flowers that adult butterflies are jonesing for;
purple coneflower
cosmos
marigold
oregano
petunia
zinnia
Your selection of flowers and herbs will also benefit your chickens! From this list, they love marigolds, clover, violets and hollyhocks. A bonus to having your garden on the roof of your Kippen House chicken coop is these flowers will be free from being devoured by your chickens when you let them roam free in your yard...but will also allow you to offer them as treats at your will.
This is a great site for getting specific suggestions on what flowers to plant that attract butterflies in your region of the country. They also list what types of butterflies to look for in your area. The butterfly site
I have a great gardening box concept that I've based the garden roof design on. It's called a wicking garden and is similar to an 'earthbox' but constructed for a large growing area versus a small container box.
The concept is based on the idea that if you water your plants from below near the roots, less water has a chance to evaporate from the surface of the soil. Therefore you water your garden LESS but reap the benefits of a healthy, abundance of produce due to the plants having access to a more constant water supply and nutrients.
When plants transpire above the soil level they also essentially 'suck' at the root level, bringing in nutrients and water to the root system. The roots essentially 'wick' up the water that is held in a separate reservoir.
The layering of elements are important in order to keep the roots dry to prevent rot while keeping a constant supply of water. I have a small sketch below that will give you an idea of the layers.
Starting from the bottom of your chosen container (ie: the wood enclosure of the garden roof on the Kippen House chicken coop)
plastic or pond liner. I suggest a heavy duty 6 mil plastic liner. Pond liner is the best but is expensive. You are essentially lining your garden container to create a pond! You actually want to keep the water in versus draining from below like you would traditionally do.
perforated pvc piping. Next you will lay a perforated pvc pipe along the bottom of your container garden. One end of the horizontal pipe should be capped off and attach an elbow piece and pipe to the other end to form the vertical piece. This vertical piece should be cut to the height of your container garden. This is where you water your garden! The water will travel down to the horizontal pipe and provide water to the water reservoir you will create next.
rock. The water reservoir depth is somewhat dependent on the size of your container garden. I think perforated pvc pipe typically comes in a 3" diameter, so this would be a good depth to start with and see how often you end up watering and how your garden responds to it. If you use a 3" pvc pipe, then add 3" of rock. I've heard of some people using packing peanuts in lieu of rock. The idea is you want some 'structure' here to hold up the soil above but also allow water to be contained in this space.
overflow drain. Locate your overflow drain at the top of the water reservoir. You do not want standing water in your soil area as this could rot your roots if they are constantly submerged in water. You will also know when to stop watering your reservoir when you see water coming out of your overflow drain. If you find soil escaping through the drain you might want to try to cover the drain with burlap or landscape fabric to keep sediment from escaping.
burlap or landscape fabric. Lay burlap or landscape fabric over your entire container bed (over the rocks). This layer is very important as it keeps you soil from settling into the water reservoir section, is somewhat permeable to allow the plant roots to wick up water and also keeps your roots from growing into your water reservoir. If you had a perennial type plant growing in the container garden, it may break through the burlap or landscape fabric over the years, so check periodically.
soil. I suggest a mixture of soil that is appropriate for a container garden. You want something that is full of nutrients, lightweight, able to hold water and air efficiently and doesn't lend itself to quick evaporation. I like to use (1) 20-quart bag of manure, high quality compost with (1) 20-quart bag of homemade or ready-made planting mixture containing sphagnum peat, vermiculite or perlite, and limestone. If you go the route of ready-made planting mix choose the one that has a more even mix of the ingredients listed above. Opt out of the ones that contain additives to increase water retention (hydrogels) as they will make the mix waterlogged for this application.
plants. Plant away and watch your plants thrive! Remember to water periodically through the vertical pipe that feeds water to the reservoir. You will begin to learn how often (or not often) you have to water due to the water not evaporating from your soil.
This is the first year I have tried the wicking garden. All this information is from doing a lot of research on the concept and learning from other people's trial and errors. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment! This by all means is not the ONLY approach, but a refined approach for the application I am using it for.
I will put together a more photographic tutorial soon! Subscribe to my blog to keep updated!
Kippen House is a joining of my dutch heritage and love of modern, dutch design with my curious interests in homesteading and urban farming. All in the form of urban garden chicken coops!
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