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Aquaponics

Garden tasks and useful stuff

Aquaponics is the main event here, but the rest of the garden still needs doing. These are the jobs and habits I think are worth the time.

Propagation: always be doing it

Whether you run aquaponics or not, you should always be propagating something. Cuttings and divisions cost almost nothing, fill gaps in the garden quickly, and make excellent gifts for friends and neighbours. I treat it as a normal background task, not a special project.

In South East Queensland we are spoiled for plants that root easily and keep going through warm weather. Three I propagate constantly and hand out without worry:

  • Bush basil (also sold as perennial or Greek basil): tough, fragrant, roots from cuttings without fuss.
  • Okinawa spinach: leafy green that grows like a weed here; a few stems in a jar of water and you have a new plant.
  • Rosemary: slow to look big, but cuttings strike reliably and everyone uses it.

If you are on the Gold Coast or nearby, everyone should be propagating and sharing plants like these. They are almost free, they suit the climate, and they beat buying puny seedlings from the nursery every time.

For a clear walkthrough on the basics, this Gardening Australia video on propagation is worth your time.

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Native bees

I keep native stingless bee hives in the garden, and they are worth their weight in pollination. They work the aquaponics beds, the soil garden, and everything in between. Capsicum, cucumber, beans, herbs: all of it gets visited. A healthy garden with plenty of flowers and native bees around means better set fruit and fewer lonely flowers doing nothing.

You do not need aquaponics to benefit. If you grow food in South East Queensland, native bees are one of the best additions you can make. They are low maintenance compared with European honey bees, they stay local, and they fit a backyard scale without turning you into a full-time beekeeper.

If you are starting out, read up on stingless bee basics for your area, give them a sheltered spot, and plant so there is something flowering across the year. They repay the effort quickly.

Jerry from Gardening Australia covers native bees well in this video on native bees.

Native stingless bee hive box painted in shades of teal and blue, with a small wooden entrance block, sitting on bricks in the garden
One of my native bee hives. The small wooden block is the entrance -- stingless bees use propolis to seal and guard it.
Inside a native stingless bee hive showing the characteristic dome-shaped brood comb surrounded by dark propolis and resin stores
Inside the hive. The dome is the brood -- eggs, larvae, and pupae packed into cells. The dark resin surrounding it is propolis, which the bees use to seal and protect everything.
Close-up of native stingless bee brood comb, a dome of hexagonal cells built up in the centre of a teal hive box, surrounded by resin and honey pots
The brood comb up close. Around the dome you can see honey and pollen pots -- the small round structures the bees fill with stores.
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Frog hotels

Frogs are excellent pest control. They eat insects, slugs, and anything else small enough to fit in their mouth -- which in a garden means fewer things eating your plants. The problem is that frogs need somewhere cool, dark, and humid to shelter during the day, and a tidy suburban garden does not offer much. A frog hotel solves that.

Mine are built from PVC plumbing fittings -- elbow joints and short straight sections joined together. The elbows keep the interior dark and damp, the pipe size suits tree frogs, and the whole thing costs next to nothing from the hardware store offcut bin. Mount them in a shady spot among plants, ideally near water, and leave them alone. The frogs find them.

Two frog hotels made from white PVC elbow and pipe sections mounted on corrugated steel, surrounded by bromeliads and garden plants
Two frog hotels made from PVC elbows and pipe. Mounted in among the bromeliads where it stays shaded and humid -- exactly what a frog wants.
A larger frog hotel made from multiple white PVC pipes and elbow joints, positioned in a lush garden bed with ferns and a large terracotta pot
A second frog hotel with more pipe sections -- more entry points, more frogs. Tucked in among ferns near a terracotta pot where it stays cool all day.

Raised soil beds instead of wicking beds

I used to run a standalone wicking bed for root crops that do not suit aquaponics media beds: potatoes, carrots, beetroot and the like. It worked in principle, but I am not in a greenhouse. Out in the open, every heavy rain event kept flooding the wicking reservoir and I got tired of fighting the weather.

I pulled the wicking bed out and went back to regular raised soil beds for those crops. Simpler, drains naturally in a downpour, and good enough for kipfler potatoes, carrots and beetroot. See what I grow for the split between aquaponics and soil.