Garden tasks and useful stuff

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.

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.

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.