Guest

Header image: ifarm.fi, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Transforming your flat’s balcony into a lush, herb-filled oasis is easier than you might think, even if you’re a complete novice. With a bit of know-how and enthusiasm, you can enjoy the freshest flavours right at your fingertips. Let’s dive into how to get started on this rewarding journey.

Laurent Palka, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)

Header image: Details of a silicified fern fossil. Geoff Thompson/Queensland Museum

Simonetta Di Pippo, Bocconi University

Casey Bryce, University of Bristol

Header image by Md Asif from Pixabay

Header image: the edge of the nearby, young, star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI.

Alice Gorman, Flinders University

Header image: Space broccoli. Image credit: NASA/Don Pettit

Botany should feature more heavily in the school curriculum, and be a greater focus of educational policy, a new study in the Journal of Biological Education says.

As NASA plans missions to the Moon and Mars, a key factor is figuring out how to feed crew members during their weeks, months, and even years in space.

Header image: Orionid meter shower, by Jeff Sullivan, via Flickr

Jose Yong, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Boglarka Zilla Gulyas, University of Sheffield and Jill Edmondson, University of Sheffield

Header image: Amid an otherworldly landscape outside of Hanksville, Utah, sits the Mars Desert Research Station. Facilities like these are intended to mimic how people might fare on Mars or the Moon, or on long-term orbital stations. Visual: The Mars Society

Header image: An artist concept depicts a greenhouse on the surface of Mars. Plants are growing with the help of red, blue and green LED light bars and a hydroponic cultivation approach. Image credit: SAIC

Header image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay

Header image: Lupinus albus (altramuces o chochitos), by Calapito via Wikimedia Commons.

Header image: <a href=«https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pink-water-lily-lake-goldfish-142067443?src=» http:>NagyDodo/Shutterstock

Garlic has been with us since Roman times – just visit any Italian restaurant to get an understanding of how central the flavour is to their dishes. At Glanbrydan (in West Wales) we love to use it in our own cooking as well as adding it to many of the fillings of the baked pasties and pies we sell.

Oca is a very tasty and useful vegetable tuber. It grows well for me in North Wales. It’s good ground cover and polycrops well with taller partners such as tomatoes. Fresh picked and raw, many varieties have a lemony (oxalic acid) taste which goes after exposure to the sun. The cooked taste is sweet. The texture ranges from that of a slightly less crunchy water chestnut to a soft puree which depends on the variety and how much you’ve cooked them.

Lauren Alex O’ Hagan, Cardiff University

Ashley Dove-Jay, University of Bristol

Header image: Andrew Taylor. Spud Fit/Facebook

Header image: Good enough to eat – ‘Outredgeous’ lettuce grown under pink lights on the International Space Station. NASA, CC BY-SA

Briardo Llorente, Macquarie University

Header image: Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right). Jonathan Clarke personal collection, Author provided.

Today’s guest post is from Vanessa – she blogs at Esculent et cetera.

Helen Anne Curry, University of Cambridge

Word by Matt de Neef, The Conversation

Header image: Three sisters (winter squash, maize and climbing beans) summer garden at the University of Guelph. (Hannah Tait Neufeld), Author provided

Today’s guest post is from Carl Legge.

Header image: The greenhouse at McMurdo Station in Antarctica is the only source of fresh food during winter. Eli Duke/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Alison Tindale tells explains everything you need to know about Chinese artichokes!

At times, usually when I supposed to be doing something else because I’m a grad student and procrastination of some form seems to be part of the gig, I find myself planning what plants I would include in an imaginary biodome on a inhospitable planet many astronomical units away. Imaginary biodomes are one of my favourite thought exercises – to me it is the perfect fusion of my love of space exploration and my attempts to grow as much as my own food as I can in my small backyard.