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 13 January 2019

Getting ready for spring - so exciting!!

Although the short days of the winter months can be a little limited from a growing perspective, it provides the much needed time to put in the infrastructure necessary for us to be ready to rock and roll come the spring. This is certainly the case in relation to growing areas and the last few days we have been working on extending our outside grow beds.


And building new ones to maximize our outside space.


 Although additional work and cost is involved in the creation of new raised beds, they are by far the best option for us.



They provide the drainage we need on what can be wet ground, enable us to provide better growing media, by facilitating the use of compost and well rotted manure and they also provide a growing area which is raised, which is far more user friendly and far easier on the lower back.

 
Made from tanalised timber they are easily constructed on site in the desired location and as they are made independent from the ground they can be shifted to suit if needed.


 
Working with what we have in place already we orientate the new ones to facilitate access and path maintenance.
 
 
 
All at 1.2m wide and typically 1m left for access, means that we can reach easily across each bed for planting and harvesting and get the muck truck and mower alongside for maintenance.
 
 

Once constructed Melv starts to fill the structures with soil and muck, this in turn will result in freeing up more space for us to extend as we clear the soil currently stockpiled. This remaining area will provide enough space for at least 3 more beds.

 
 
Having so much growing area will be fantastic and our next step will be working out what will be planted where - enabling us to offer continuity and variety of produce, whilst still being able to ensure we can achieve the rotations we need to - roll on the fresh green growth of the spring and the  long, warm summer days...

Sunday 6 January 2019

Happy New Year

New Years morning in Godney


So much to look forward to in 2019, as we look to grow the business, improve the service we offer and increase our product range to provide a wider range of fruit and vegetables which include the unusual and the traditional.

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...