Wicking Bed Containers

This year I plan on doing a little beyond hydroponics but stay in the alternative gardening. Water is pricing here and California is in a drought so looking at building a couple container wicking beds. The theory with this is you build a reservoir under the soil that you can top off from above through a pipe. The water will "wick" upwards to the roots allowing the plants to take what they need. No surface water so very little evaporation. You therefore use a lot less water than traditional gardening and watering.