Gunnedah, NSW

A public school in Gunnedah engaged us to build six wicking beds in a central area of the grounds, for their older students to use as a learning aid. The school already had some in-ground growing in a separate spot, but they wanted something more reliable and productive at the heart of the school — and as it happens, this set of beds was the start of a longer relationship, with the school later coming back to expand the garden further.

The six raised beds sit in a position that gets good year-round sun, which should make them very productive. Each is built from kiln-dried, vegetable-grade timber with our food-safe iron-oxide finish — no cheap CCA pine near where the students grow their food — fully lined over a sealed wicking reservoir and filled with our custom-blended organic growing medium.

Out in the hot, dry North West, the self-watering design is what makes a school garden viable. Conventional beds struggle in the Gunnedah heat, drying out fast and demanding constant attention, but a wicking reservoir changes the equation: water sits in the base and the plants draw it up as they need it, keeping the garden thriving with minimal watering. Crucially, the beds keep the vegetables supplied for weeks at a time, so they survive the school holidays — the stretch that usually undoes a school veggie patch in a dry climate.

For the older students, six beds make a real, productive growing space rather than a token plot — somewhere to plant, tend and harvest properly, and to learn the principles of growing food in a tough climate. With good year-round sun and the reservoir doing the work, the garden keeps producing across the seasons with very little staff time.

Built from durable, food-safe timber, these raised garden beds are made to last in a hot climate and years of daily school use. UrbanVeg builds raised garden beds and self-watering vegetable beds for schools across Gunnedah and the North West. If your school would like a productive garden that can handle the heat and the holidays, we'd love to help you plan it.