There was an interesting article in today's New York Times on "aquaponics",
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/ga...gewanted=print
where the author uses "waste" water from a 150 gallon fish tank to fertilize
his plants. He's posted a YouTube video of his set up at
http://www.youtube.com/user/web4deb if you're interested. The article
describes pretty amazing production in his crops of cherry tomatoes,
lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries.



This got me to thinking. I have a bio filter falls that is planted with
mint, Louisiana Iris, Forget-me-nots and other plants, in addition to the
fiber mats and lava rock. This set up keeps my 3,000 gallon pond clear. (I
don't use any U/V filtration.) Each summer I have to remove significant
amounts of mint from the filter falls as it dams up the spillway where the
water returns to the pond. Wouldn't I be better off cultivating something
that I could use (eat) and not throw away for mulch? What if I were to put a
couple of tomato plants in my filter falls instead; or, some other food
crop?



Has anyone else tried "farming" from their ponds?



I think I'm going to try this out this year!



JB