Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm new to this forum, my original plan was to just lurk & learn, but after looking through some of this thread(will eventually read all of it), I am mentally drooling. WOW Very nice.

Thanks Longlux!

Just spent almost three weeks away on holidays and returned home to a few little surprises. I found that the tall green shoots weren't spring onions after all as one of the bulbs had fattened and it is a real white onion. lol
The red cabbages are coming to an end and so are the purple king climbing beans, enough to keep for seed next time. The trout went in the freezer a few weeks ago and the vege beds look old and seedy. The rabbits are having a feast though and it is clearly time to replant for the summer season. I have about 8-10 silver perch ticking along. They are hardy little devils, as when I returned home the water level had dropped in the main tank and was not pumping. Kids don't miss the sound of running water like I do apparently.
Early morning harvest a few days ago. Looks like a coleslaw and bruschetta to be had. The Black russian tomatoes are on the go as well as another couple of varieties in the system.
I noticed a dark shadow on one of the bean leaves, and upon closer inspection I discovered that it was a complete hatching of the cursed shield bugs, not a parasitic wasp to be seen. You can see the little caps popped off the empty eggs. How cute you say, well they have all now been squished, just in the nick of time. Before they wreaked havoc on my tomatoes, leaving an extremely bitter residue.

Sometimes I plant seeds and forget about them. Well as I am not familiar with this flower I wonder if that is what has happened. It is next to the raddichio, perhaps one has gone to flower, I don't really know yet I did plant lambs lettuce too. Does anyone know?

Just another pretty flower photo, from the scarlet runner beans.

I find it odd that it is mid december and we are only just looking at summer crops....

I have been wearing my jacket at work! Mid december i tells ya...

Yeah I know what you mean Rsev, I have only just thought about whether to restock with barra, but I don't think the temps are there in my system. The dilmeema, of do I go for Barramundi for the fifth consecutive year, or grow up some koi for an outdoor pond with deck, or just do the good ol' Silver Perch.

I think that blue flower may be wild chicory Faye

P.S cheers for the sweet tater shoots, I have some in the AP and some in the dirt, both are doing well

Watch those sweet potatoes in your grow beds Gazza. They spread quite rapidly and grow like wildfire, you may end up thinking that you have a leaky bed, 'cause they zap up that much water. And OMG the root mass if left unattended will take you more than half a day to get out. Well that was my experience anyway. Good luck. Mine only live in the dirt at my place.

You are correct Gazza, it is a wild chicory flower. The radicchio plant is going to seed, botanic name is Cichorium intybus and they are adible with a slight chicory flavour, what a win.

The problem with barra at least in my part of the world is the cold snaps. My water has been up above 23 and back below 19 about 3 times in the last 6 weeks.

Aaah, Mother Nature, she is a funny thing!

Well now a new crop of fish is always a catalyst for a tidy up of the system. It appears it was long overdue as there were a few stray roots and leaves to be dealt with. The flow to the beds had been reduced by the tiny gum nuts and a few gum leaves that found their way in to the fish tank. Did I tell you I hate gum leaves?
A twist of the stand pipe surrounds and a tap of the stand pipe and we're off and running again.




This was a surprise find this morning, as the asparagus spears are thickening up. Wohoo

Bloody gum trees sprouting in my growbeds. Grr


Duckweed doing well in the drain tank for the silver perch.
Tarragon, I think?
20 new Barra introduced this week, and not feeding yet. Beds are a bit sparse but who want to do anything when it gets to 40 degres, only barra I guess. Lots of lettuce self seeding and tomaotes still fruiting.

How long has your "sparrowsguts" been in there?

Hi Faye,

How are your asparagus going, when did you plant them? Harvested any yet?

I'm interested to find out more about asparagus as I know you have I leave them for a couple of seasons before the first harvest. Do they take up a lot of space in the gb's?

Will

I have had asparagus in one of my GBs for about 3 seasons now and still only thin little sprouts. Not sure how many seasons they are supposed to take?

I think I planted it around 12 months ago, can't really remember. I noticed tonight there is another shoot coming and definitely thicker by double than when it started. I am not particularly hopeful, but pleasantly surprised if it turns out as good as the bought produce. Time will tell.

Holy cow, that was a read. You have an amazing system and my wife and I can't wait to start one of our own when we get our house next year. I think we're definitely going to do rainbow trout.

Thankyou and I'm glad that you liked it. I hope that you will enjoy aquaponics as much as I have, it truly has been an adventure that continues to amaze me.