Aquarium Gardens…oh my!

I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow I discovered the wonderful world of Aquarium Gardens. It’s a tiny world, with only a couple of people in it, I think, but there’s room for more! So far, I’ve scratched the surface, but as time and money allows, perhaps I’ll go deeper. It all began when I started wondering about what plants would grow in water. Turns out, quite a number! Here are a few that I had already been attempting to grow in soil:

Stevia

Ivy

Basil

Parsley

Lavender

Rosemary

Chili peppers

These are all plants of mine that would have died this winter had I not taken cuttings and put them in water. I’m not sure what made me do it, but I scooped up some of my pond water (where I’m growing duck weed) to use as the water. This has proven to be very interesting, as there are little critters in the water: snails, larva, and something that flits around that I haven’t identified. (maybe female rotifers?) The pond water is much more fertile than simple spring or dechlorinated tap water. 

I currently have stevia, ivy, basil, parsley and chilli peppers growing in water. All of them, after a couple of weeks, have tiny root hairs and/or little leaf buds. Hopefully, this spring I can replant them outside. It’s a nice little system: plant them outside for the growing season, harvest as necessary. Then bring in cuttings for the winter. 

I’m a sucker for systems. Make it sustainable and I’m all in. And that’s the great thing about this little project: it’s sustainable. Supposedly, the critters eat the algae that grows, and then the critters produce nitrogen (in the form of poop) that the plants (including algae) use to grow. The plants also put oxygen into the water.

A little research has revealed that with bigger jars, you can graduate to bigger critters, such as fish. Dwarf guppies and endlers can. be sustained in gallon jars, while a 2-gallon jar would suffice for a beta, from what I read. I haven’t gotten that far yet. My middle son and oldest granddaughter have expressed interest, so I may try to make one for each of them. I’ll keep you updated.

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