Yesterday, I put together a horse trough wick watering setup. I'll describe it here now and will post a link to my blog with photos when I have enough results to evaluate and publish. Mine differs from those described in the article, because I use synthetic wicks instead of extending soil columns down to the water. Metal round trough, about three feet across. I have a big stack of fairly tough 9-inch tall plastic pots. I set five around the inside and one in the center, upside down. I cut a wedge out of the side of each so that water would flow unobstructed and the pots wouldn't displace much. I have some expanded aluminum from the recycler and cut a disc of that to set on top of the pots. I have some heavy synthetic burlap-like cloth from the dump rescue and cut a larger disc from that. That will be the barrier between the soil and water. I cut four lengths of 1-1/2 pvc pipe to run from the bottom, through the metal and burlap, to about half way up the soil area. Each of those has three lengths of 1/2-inch nylon rope running through it, with a few inches out the bottom and ten inches out the top. There's a bevel cut at the bottom of those tubes to allow the rope to not be pinched. And there's another pipe from the bottom to the top rim as a filler, drilled multiple times at its bottom end. I filled the soil area up to the top of the wick rope pipes and spread the wicks, then filled the rest of the way. I also drilled a hole nine inches from the bottom. That's an overflow in case of rain or over filling. I'm watching it now, testing moisture to see how it does. It takes a while for a new installation to stabilize, for the soil equilibrium to set up between the water, wicks and soil. If this works, I'll have a 40 gallon reservoir, actually a bit less because the plastic in the pots and the various pipes displace some. But it's still enough to self-water for a long time. I will use a dip stick or a float and indicator rod to see when it needs water. I don't have a good feel for the interaction between the rope wicks and soil wicking that could disperse water from there. Probing different places with the moisture meter should be revealing. But my guess is that it's all just a matter of scale and that any given type and size of wick has a maximum capacity to move water, and I took a shot at a total of 12 1/2-inch nylon rope wicks for this one.

Iowi, How did your galvanized water troughs work out? I'm a Seattle resident who would like to try the same but am utterly new to gardening (this is the first year I've owned a house with a substantial area in which to give it a try). We'd like to have one area with raised beds and another with galvanized tanks as beds. Not sure how to proceed with either but the tanks really have me stymied. Are small holes drilled in the bottom adequate drainage given our PNW rains? Or would it almost be better to cut out the bottoms of the tanks? Is it safe to grow food in galvanized metal? I know some zinc consumption is safe but I think the cadmium is a greater concern. Nila, Could you elaborate on your soil instructions? Are you recommending mixing these 2 components are layering them in some manner? Would you recommend this same mixture for other types of raised beds as well? Thanks guys! Hoping the GW community will take me under their collective wing and help grow a new gardener!

Hello garden_chicken! The trough I bought is approximately 2 feet long, and maybe 8-10" wide (at the top)?? It is the kind that is narrower at the bottom, and gets wider as you get towards the top. Does that make sense?? I'm not at home, otherwise I would just take a picture and post it. I'll try to remember to do that... I purchased it from a small, locally owned nursery. The owner of the nursery told me the tufa troughs and planters they had for sale were made by a local woman. I paid $25 for it, which I thought was a good price for as large as it is. The only thing is, as I already pointed out in my posts above, it has no drain holes, and the edges around the top are still rather rough (I'm still wondering where to get a piece of granite or something to use to smooth out the edges??) So I've got to try and work on it a little bit before planting my mini hostas in it. Hope this helps!! Thanks, Buff

marti8a, about 4 or 5 years ago, my 10 ft wide stock tank started leaking. I drained it and found out that there were about a dozen small holes in the bottom. So I let it dry well and then put some small round sheet metal pieces (used for roofing) over the holes. First I put some of the tar down and then the metal pieces on it. Then I tared over top of that. I put tar all over the bottom since it was rusted fairly well. The tar that I used was Submarine Cooler Coating for evaporative coolers that I bought at Walmart, for $4 per quart. It hasn't leaked since I did this. One concern I had was if it would hurt the fish or the waterlilies? It didn't seem to affect either of them. So you might consider using that tar to cover the rust? It works best if you use a paint brush and wait for warm weather so it will go on smoothly. Also wear some old clothes that you can throw away in case you get any on you.