anything you want to know about hydroponics i can help you with, but you would have to contaminate the whole pond with lots of chemical-based nutrients. i can see a way that it could work if you just umped the water from the pond through a filter and into a salt-water resivoir to add and adjust the chemicals before it circulates through the system. if you want ot know more about the 'ponics email me! ~Ryan

Why don't you do what the Aztecs did?

mstaley3000...what exactly did the Aztecs do? I'm dying to know!

If I were making a floating greenhouse, I think I would plant in soil to avoid the chemical contamination referred to by mycarbumps. I would arrange a system of automatic watering by wicking the water from the pond to the containers. I think a floating greenhouse is a neat idea! Now if only I had a pond....

Website and excerpt below.

http://www.agnr.umd.edu/howard/mg/schfloa.htm

Seedlings were also started on floating foundations, according to another witness. The movable nurseries were "20 to 30 feet long and as broad as the farmer deems convenient, laid on rush, cattail, and sward; on these they set seedbeds for vegetables which are to be transplanted later, and they tow them with ropes from one place to another within the lagoon." The legend of "Montezuma's floating gardens" appears to have arisen through errors of observation made by some witnesses who mistook the movable nurseries for the farm plots.

That was interesting! Thanks for the gardening history lesson.

Hi, I remembered your post and when I came across this I thought it might be of interest. No time to read it at the moment, so if it is off-topic, please just ignore it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Floating Rafts

Do straw bales float? If not, they could be made more bouyant somehow and would be a perfect planting medium, drawing water up through the straw to the plant.

You might consider aquaponics using some sort of raft system.

There are also the floating gardens of Kashmir, some of which are still remaining. I believe there were also some ancient floating gardens in China. I collect old pictures - I will try & post one of the Aztec chinampas. If it works I have more pictures.

From what I have read, the Chinampas were made of some sort of reed mat attached to the bottom of a swamp and piled with dirt. The straw might work if you found something to support it.

Here is a link to a museum picture of the floating gardens of Kashmir (click on the zoom & then the picture. The picture size increases with successive clicks):

http://search.famsf.org/4d.acgi$Record?8336&=list&=201&=india&=And&=206&=0amp;=keywords&=Yes&=&=&=&=Yes&=&=f