Growing vegetables in water without soil? Sounds a bit fishy.
But in a glasshouse at Werribee Park, a group of horticultural students is working on a pilot project using the waste produced by a school of goldfish to provide the nutrients for hydroponically grown herbs and vegetables.
The system is called aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, that produces vegetables and fish in the one system using no soil and significantly less water.
As the vegetables and herbs develop, the fish swim around, fertilising them and purifying the water.
Parks Victoria horticulturalist Adam Smith, who designed the project, said it was already paying dividends.
“This particular system uses three types of hydroponic methods: gravel growing beds which act as a filter; gutter growing beds, which use pots; and floating beds where the plants virtually walk on water,” he said.
“The system uses 90 per cent less water than a conventional soil garden.”
Mr Smith said the vegetables matured in four weeks, rather than the typical nine weeks had they been grown in the ground.
The vegetables and herbs will be shared by the students and used at the Mansion Hotel, while the goldfish will eventually be returned to the park’s garden pond.
“It’s such a quick and efficient system that we are planting different crops about every four weeks after each harvest,” Mr Smith said.
