My hubby has been itching to build a new aquaponic
garden. He has had an IBC tote
cluttering up the garage for several weeks.
The problem is that we are running out of space. We do not have much growable space to begin
with. Some of what we do have is
shaded. The areas that get enough sun
for growing edibles are already occupied by aquaponic gardens or conventional
soil beds.
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| Little Okra |
He has been eying our swimming pool deck and commenting
about the abundance of sun it receives.
Of course it does, who puts a swimming pool in the shade? I could see where the hints were going. By the time he said he wanted to put an aquaponic
garden by the pool, I had accepted that this was going to happen. I just wanted
to minimize the damage.
By damage, I mean that our house is built around the pool
area. It is visible from most rooms in
the back of the house. I did not want to
look at something ugly. Let’s face it,
most aquaponic gardens are collections of tubs, barrels, buckets and lots of pipes
and tubing. These components are not
terribly attractive. While our existing
aquaponic gardens are not eyesores, they are not exactly things of beauty. Even though they are full of beautiful growing things, I don't want something like that the focal point of the back of my house.
I was willing to compromise (one of the reasons we have been
married for over 30 years) and he was willing to compromise (another reason our
marriage has lasted so long). I agreed
to the IBC, if he agreed to do some extra work so that it was not an ugly
eyesore.
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| IBC Aquaponic Garden |
Voila! He clad the
system in pressure treated lumber so that it will withstand the elements and from the
house, it almost looks like a hot tub! The bottom holds 125 gallons and the top gives us a grow area of roughly 4 feet by 4 feet. Plenty of room for the tilapia and veggies! He fitted it with a bell siphon, but I would like to change it over to a timed flood and drain. I like the way that method performs on the larger systems.
This past week end we began cycling. Because I can’t stand for the fish to die, we
are cycling with ammonia. You can read my January post about my experiences cycling with and without
fish and come to your own conclusions about cycling with fish.
Just to start, I put in some purple hull peas and Cajun
Jewel okra. I already have plenty of
okra in our other grow beds and even some in rafts and NFT tubes, so I think we
can expect a large crop of okra.
Unfortunately, because it is the rainy season, there is very little we
can grow. Summer in South Florida is
like winter in the Midwest or North, there are
very few edible plants that can survive.
Which brings me to an RIP moment. One of the first thunderstorms that came
barreling off the Everglades produced a lightening strike that has taken out one
of my coconut palm trees. As you can see
in this photo, the tree is dying and you can even see the stripe on the tree
trunk where the lightening exited.
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| Coconut Tree with Lightening Scar |
It appears that the areca palm next to the coconut is a
goner as well. The areca only went in
after hurricane Wilma. The coconut is
over 20 years old. I will miss them. Its like saying good-bye to an old friend.
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| Areca with burned fronds |
Do you get attached to your trees?
