Godney Aquaponics


Godney Aquaponics
In the village of Godney, with the beautiful back drop of the Glastonbury Tor, Melv and Sal are embarking on a new venture. Fed up with the poor quality of veg in the shops, they have the ambition to set up an aquaponics system to provide fresh vegetables and salad crops for the village, and with a little help from their hens a supply of fresh free range eggs too.


What is Aquaponics??


What is Aquaponics??
Aquaponics is a sustainable method of producing quality food with minimal external inputs. It is a system that combines conventional aquaculture (e.g. fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. Water from the aquaculture system is fed to the hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down and are utilised by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then re-circulated back to the aquaculture system.


Sunday, 9 December 2018

Salad leaves are still on the menu

Despite it being the time for Christmas fare, the demand for salad leaves is still great from our local businesses. As a result it is crucial that we maximise the sunshine and daylight hours at this time of year to facilitate our baby leaf production.

 
The growth rate of everything is slower at this time of year and for baby leaf salad it increases from 4 to 6 weeks, mind you at the other extreme, during the hot days of last summer they were growing in just 2 weeks!! During these days of short daylight hours to aid their growth once they have successfully germinated in the adjacent shade tunnel, we are now utilizing the grow beds in the poly tunnel to hold the trays and bring them on to their true leaves.

 
Finding a home for everything is a bit of a juggling act - but the trays of salad and watercress sit nicely alongside the Pak Choi and look amazing in the wonderful light generated by the polythene on the tunnel.


With the maximum number of trays ever, currently under production, every bit of space is being used and make shift supports have been made.

 
Inside the tunnel is an amazing environment and a brilliant space to work in. Even the weakest rays from the sun raises the temperature dramatically, which is brilliant and essential for growing in what can be the challenging winter months.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Home grown

Now normally with our horticultural hats on when we talk about home grown we are refering to vegetables. But for the first time since we hav...