Coach Profile: South Australia

Name: William Mansell 

Address: 9A Heather Rd, Heathfield South Australia 5153 

Telephone: 0429697749 

Email: habsol@bigpond.com 

Experiences and qualifications 

-        Degrees in Sociology and Education

-        Registered Teacher

-        Permaculture gardener for 25 years

-        Have been self employed for last 13 years with a business called Habitat Solutions, working primarily with remote indigenous communities with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable water infrastructure, large scale biodiversity conservation projects, language, heritage and cultural maintenance projects and sustainable housing management.

-        Am also involved in community gardening and run a school garden project on a volunteer basis. 

Wicking beds constructed

-        Have made a lot of wicking beds from small plastic containers through to large closed and open wicking beds.

Services Offered

-        Wicking bed workshops, design and construction services; garden design; biodiversity conservation project management; school and community garden development consultancy; nature based educational programs.

My first wicking bed	Flaxmill Primary School	Alice Springss Closed Bed
Old school community garden	Alice Springs open wicking bed	Metal wicking bed

 Products offered

-        Betta-Gro^tm hinged propagation trays; Ebb & Flow^R Mat Irrigation

-        Betta-Gro^tm hinged propagation trays; Ebb & Flow^R Mat Irrigation

Victoria

Name 

John Bentley

Address 

9 Cox Ave., Tongala, Victoria, 3621 

Telephone 

03 5859 0258 

Experiences and Qualifications 

I’m a former water bailiff and a fitter and machinist by trade, currently I’m employed in hardware and farm supplies and a turf wicket curator.  

Farming and gardening have been in the family genes for many generations and I’ve been an avid gardener for the past 35 years. I stumbled upon Colin’s original website while researching my submission to the VEAC re: river red gums. 

Nearing 3 years ago my health wasn’t too good, I had an angiogram which cleared me of any heart problems, but was diagnosed prostate cancer. I have always preferred to have fresh home grown veggies, etc and of late I have redoubled my efforts at growing fresh veggies using minimal water and chemicals. 

Wicking Beds Constructed 

 The original bed I constructed, on the left, was an in-ground job 3x3m approx some 2.5 years ago and it blew me away. Within 12 months

the soil in the wicking bed was better than my conventional garden bed which I had been nurturing for 14 years prior. 

Eighteen months ago I constructed 2 above ground wicking beds of similar size (3x1.5m) with the initial result very encouraging. However, I did run into problems with drainage and subsidence after torrential rain in March, 2102. I have taken some steps to rectify this problem. 

It was during this period of rectification that I remembered something from my water bailiff days that I thought may alleviate having to use plastic as a liner at the bottom of the bed. We used to use bentonite when repairing leaks around structures in irrigation channels. This is the same substance used by farmers to seal dams to prevent seepage into the water table. It is my intention to trial this over the next 12 months. 

Services offered 

General advice on the construction and operation of wicking beds – free of charge 

Email 

jb@tongalas.own.net.au

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Name

Alan Singleton

Address

20 Jennings Street, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350

Phone

07 4639 5680      0424 996 540

Experience

I have been an organic gardener for many years. I started building wick gardens about four years ago and have been selling kits to schools and other interested gardeners since then. For the past two years I have been actively promoting the concept and selling to the general public both kits and gardens fully installed under the business name Watersaver Gardens.

Wicking Bed Range & Services Toowoomba Area

For gardeners living in the Toowoomba area I make beds to order and offer a full installation service with detailed advice on how to get the most benefit out of a wick garden. There many advantages to wicking beds apart of their water saving characteristics. Extras such as shade cloth, trellis and a range of colours are available. Standard sizes are:

600 mm x 1300 mm

1100 mm x 1300 mm

1100 mm x 2400 mm

Wicking Bed Range Australia-wide

The two smaller sizes are my Pop-Up range; simple to assemble and capable of delivery anywhere in Australia. They are available in the full range of colorbond colours. Freight is free to customers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Discounted freight applies elsewhere. A quote on freight for other products is available on request.

 The Pop-Up garden available Australia-wide

Other Services

Advice on all aspects of wicking bed construction and use is available via email or telephone (mobile preferred). I am also happy to organize workshops for interested parties and attend functions to speak on the benefits of wicking beds. I welcome local gardeners and visitors to arrange a time to inspect my own gardens. These services are all free of charge.

Discussing the benefits of wicking beds with the president of North Toowoomba Rotary Club

Web site

watersavergardens.com

Email

alan@watersavergardens.com

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Name: Gilles (Jim) Blok

Location: Newcastle NSW

Address: 11 Symes Ave Kahibah

Phone: 0249438812 Mob 0411332366

Email: wickinggardenbeds@iinet.net.au

Website: www.wickinggardenbeds.com.au (under construction)

14 years bar manager in Amsterdam speaking 3 languages (German, Dutch, and English)
4 years owner Jim's Mowing Mosman franchise

Diplomas from the Netherlands:
Marketing,  financial management, operational management, staff and
organisation.

Wicking beds constructed: 11 (2 in greenhouse)

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Elaine de Saxe

Elaine de Saxe ees-in-green@gardener.com

Elaine de Saxe; general advice on home growing using wicking bins/self-watering pots.

Happy to have visitors to see and discuss home food gardening using
wicking bins. Deception Bay; please email to arrange a time.

ees-in-green@gardener.com

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Colin Austin

55, Kookaburra Park, Gin Gin Queensland 4671

07 4157 2278

Engineer, developed the Moldflow technology, built up one of Australia’s leading exporter of technical software and was world recognised as a leader in computational fluid flow

Started research into soil regeneration in the 1970’s and developed the wicking bed technology in the 1995.

I have had a triple bye pass and my wife Xiulan has diabetes so we have a mutual interest in healthy food

Wicking beds constructed

Has made a range of wicking beds from boxes, open and closed beds and wicking furrows and is now experimenting with the sponge bed for large scale use. 

Small scale wicking boxes