Monday, January 3, 2011

Aquaponics - The First Step

When I first started organic veggie gardening some of the veggies that I wanted to grow were those that are not commonly planted in this part of the world because of the climate. My curiosity got the better part of me and I tried many ways trying to grow them here. When traditional method failed, I started to think of hydroponic.

Hydroponics is a subset of hydro-culture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. The minerals nutrients are in the form of chemicals and I wanted a organic method where almost all my needs can be obtained easily around the house. Made lots of research on the internet and after some discussion with one of the member in the Garden Stew forum, I was introduced to Aquaponics.

Aquaponics is a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water. This is like a mini ecosystem and as long as there is a balance it should be great. Yes this is interesting and could be the solution for me to plant the temperate veggies that I wanted to plant. 


Having decided the next step is to get more information on this system and also to where to locate it in my compound.                

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