The reason that there has been no entries for weeks is simple – every time I have managed to get near a computer, I have been researching aquaponics, instead of doing real work.

In case you didn’t know, aquaponics is the art of growing food hydroponically, but using fish waste as the nutrient source. Therefore, you connect your growing beds, nutrient film system et al to a fish tank, and then cunningly recycle the water back to the fish. So, the fish eat (and grow into supper-sized portions), excrete in the usual way. various bacteria then convert ammonia into nitrites into nitrates, and your veggies scoff the lot.

The whole point of this is that (allegedly) the plants grow from 4 to 8 TIMES FASTER than in normal growing conditions (i.e. the ground). This is not actually a believable point, and frankly, I will wait to see if it is true. The other point, which is even more important to us is that aquaponics uses LESS THAN 10% of the water that standard growing techniques require.  We use around 3,000 litres a day in the summer, up until the point where we run out of water, turn the garden off, and lament all the dead plants and lack of food. So, if this is even remotely true, it will be astonishing. Halving our water needs would be impressive, but 10%? really don’t believe it, but we will be finding out soon.

OK, so it’s official, I am a born-again aquaponicist in waiting. Let the wild rumpus begin!

We (I say we, but actually I mean I, at 4.00am mostly, because Ellie is much more sensible and sleeps at night.) have worked out that, because there is no possibility of finding old scrap water-tanks, grow beds or other paraphernalia for cheap, we are going to have to make the system from scratch, out of concrete. The budget looks like it will be up around 1,000 euros at the finish, but it will be a fairly large installation – a 5 or 6 thousand litre fish tank, initially two 2×4 metre grow-beds, with river-gravel as a medium, and some nutrient film system thrown in, mainly because we do have a stack of old guttering hanging around looking for a new home.

The new site for the new system inside a new poly-tunnel  Have even cut down an olive tree to fit it all in.

So, this will be the beginning of a fabulous new world of year-round veggie excesses, fish suppers and free pig-food. We hope. It might turn out to be a mamothian white elephant; 8 cubic metres of useless, badly poured concrete that will be a permanent reminder of the folly of internet research. Will keep posting.