Thursday, March 8, 2012

Brother Ron.......aquaponics


Aquaponics

My brother has lived in Arizona for 45 years or more.  When he got out of the service he got married and bought a candy apple red hatchback Mustang taking his bride to Arizona in that car.  They never left the state.

Having some farmer blood in him he has tried to garden in Arizona and has his lemon tree. He has some very successful years as a gardener as he has bought soil and waters regularly.  It just has been a risky thing for him even though the weather cooperates for him during our winters. He has just discovered a new way of growing things.

Aquaponics is growing things in gravel. Commercial greenhouses have been using this process for a while.  The plants grow in rock and the water is pumped into the rock every 15 minutes.  The water is coming from large water tanks that have fish in them. When the water is  pumped up into the rocks it is allowed to drain back down into the fish containers.  My brother Ron has goldfish and koi in there for now but he is going to get a permit to buy stock fish and purchase crappy and bluegill fish. I don't know if they will grow big enough for him to eat but if they do he would eat them.



 This is his most recent photo of his garden. They have been having salads from his water garden.  He is still in experimentation with this thing as it so unusual for him to use.  He said he had sprinkled radish seed on the rock and they did grow. I will keep you all posted on this project as I am sure some people would be interested in trying this someday.


We do not have daffodils blooming.  I do have 4 inch sprouts that are up, so there is hope.  I know that some years we have the blooms and the cold or an ice storm can coat them  with ice.  I am glad to see the sprouts and know more things will be budding now. I am looking forward to seeing the daffodils.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.









5 comments:

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Oh how wonderful it would be to relish in fresh veggies year round!!! That looks like a wonderful system there.

I'm itchin' for flowers. I cleaned my irises out yesterday. They are up 'bout an inch.

I'm in awe of your lovely pics.

God bless ya and have an incredible day!!!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

What an interesting way to grow a vegetable garden. Do keep us posted.

Hope you see lovely blooms popping up all over, soon.

FlowerLady

Patsy said...

Wow! that is interesting.

Linda said...

That sounds quite an undertaking. There is something similar on the west coast of Scotland, where the soil is very acid with peat.
You're having quite a nasty winter. Daffodils are well up here - how you must be longing to see some flowers.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Interesting set up, I am sure it would work well to grow some greens..healthy ones too:)