Mesa family grows garden in old backyard pool

MESA, Ariz. - What would you do if you had an empty pool in your backyard? One Valley family decided to turn theirs into a garden.

And according to ABC News, it's not just any kind of vegetable garden. It also has chickens and fish and has become the family's "primary source of food."

The McClung family first saw the house in 2009. They liked it. They bought it.

Dennis McClung said they liked everything about the house and its proximity to schools and it's corner lot location, except one major issue:

"We loved everything about it except for the pool. We didn't really feel the need to have a 9-foot-deep pool with a 2 and 4-year-old," he said. "Drownings are huge here… so basically we had a problem."

He said there were two options: fill it with dirt or water. He came up with a third: create a garden pool that could put them on the path to self-sufficiency."

That was October 2009. Now, less than a year after the family moved in, McClung said the garden produces eight eggs a day, unlimited fish, organic fruits, vegetables and herbs. He said the garden has cut the family's grocery bill by at least 75 percent.

Making it into a garden was pretty simple. They put a plastic frame with tarp over the pool. They turned one end into a tilapia pond and the other half into a vegetable garden.

Every four to six months, the female tilapia lay more than a thousand eggs that are ready for harvest in about nine months, he said. They're so prolific that he added a turtle and catfish to the pond for population control. Lemon trees and banana trees float in the water and berries and grapes grow above the water level.

The chicken coop is suspended over the pond. The waste from the coop falls into the pond helps grow the algae in the pond.

Read more of the story from ABC News.