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.


Thursday, 23 May 2019

Time to gamble

Although we are not gambling kind of folk, this time of year is always about edging your bets with the weather!! 

Have we seen the last of the frosts??

After purchasing some horticultural fleece for frost protection earlier in the year we took a risk and planted out our sweetcorn at the beginning of the month, but unfortunately the late frosts had disastrous consequences for one of our crops and we lost the lot, however on the positive the other is showing signs of recovery - fingers crossed.




However now with the need to free up space in the polytunnel and of course the desire to get early produce, there comes a point in the month of May that you just have to go for planting tender plants outside. So to accompany our earlier plantings of:
  • Cavolo nero
  • Rainbow chard

  • Red orach
  • Celeriac


  • Khol rabi 

which are now all storming away, we are filling up the outside beds with some of the old traditionals:
  • Mixed coloured climbing beans, yellow, green and purple, together with assorted dwarf beans


  • Courgettes - again yellow, dark and light green



 and 

  • Squash, five different varieties, from the more traditional butternut to the unusual black futsu

Looking at the long-term forecast there are no signs of any more late frosts to catch us out, and in fact quite the opposite, a settled spell of warm beautiful growing weather - here's to the long summer days, fresh produce with loads of variety and colour to inspire our local chefs and customers.


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