Fish in the Garden
Why do fish make for great gardens
Ever since I went to Epcot, when I was a pre-teenager, and went on their tour that had a hydroponics garden, I have always been interested in having a garden like that. The Epcot attraction also used areoponics, but they didn't have aquaponics.
aquaponics : A system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.
~ source: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/aquaponics
I actually don't remember when or where I first heard about aquaponics, but, after learning about it, I knew that was the perfect way to have a garden. By growing the right produce and livestock, you can circulate nutrients in a self-sustained system.
But, aquaponics isn't what most people thing when they are talking about fish in the garden. From the garden channels I have watched, I have notice that those who are most successful either use fish bone meal, fish emulsion, or actual fish as a way to fertilize their garden.
The main reason for using fish in the garden is to get nitrogen and other nutrients to the plants. A popular alternative to doing that is to plant peas or beans. Peas and beans are apparently more susceptible to attack from a bacteria called Rhizobium. This bacteria pulls in nitrogen through the plants that it affects and then stores it in the roots of the plants. It is a beneficial bacteria and the plant doesn't suffer and your garden will benefit.
Of course, it is hard sometimes to set aside your garden for a season just to grow peas and greens, which is why people grow winter cover crops, like clover. These crops will help bring the nitrogen, which then can be tilled in at spring time. Now, this comes as a set back for those who use one of the "no till" methods for gardening, which brings us back around to using fish.
When I add things to my garden and use certain methods, I try to plan ahead with the idea of "Can I do this if the world ends tomorrow?". In other words, am I using methods and resources in my gardening that, while easy enough to drive down to the big-box store now, won't be available if some major crisis happened. While there is a lake not too far from my house, I don't know how well it would be stocked with fish. I do know, that I can grow bush beans really easy and they seem to produce a lot of seeds per plant.
Now, if I had a aquaponics setup, then I might actually have an abundance of fish that already produce nitrogen as they work.
Here are three channels I follow and their use of each of they types of fish fertilizer.
