Space gardening Ideas, Tips & Guides

Aquaculture is farming in water. Can we do that in space? Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond!

On 9th September 2021, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov conducted a spacewalk to connect an ethernet local network cable, two high-frequency television cables and a cable for the Kurs-P rendezvous system into the new ISS module Nauka (the MLM). They also installed three new containers in the Biorisk hardware. Biorisk is a Russian suite of hardware used to measure the impacts of the space environment on biological activity.

Header image: The tiny floating duckweed plant is uniquely suited to meet the nutritional needs of astronauts. Dr. Jared J. Stewart, CC BY-ND

Header image: Lettuce cultivated in a sealed bag (Left: before harvesting; Right: before collecting on the ground). Image credit: Takanaka Corporation

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma finds out which plant experiments are on their way to the International Space Station and talks to the people behind the Astronematode mission that sent predatory worms into space!

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma talks to Dr John Z Kiss, space plant biologist. Dr Kiss has worked on eight plant experiments that flew in space and made exciting discoveries about how plants respond to light and gravity.

Weathering the worst of an Antarctic winter, a shipping container may hold the key to feeding astronauts in space. The EDEN ISS greenhouse was shipped to the German Neumayer Station III Antarctic station in 2017. It sits on extendable stilts to cope with the snow accumulating underneath. On a clear day, the views are breathtaking. At other times, the crew need a rope guideline to find their way from the greenhouse to the station. During the worst blizzards, EDEN ISS is fully monitored and operated from the control centre at the DLR Institute of Space Systems in Germany.

Luke Fountain joins Emma the Space Gardener to talk about the different ways plants use nitrogen. Luke is investigating two different processes in the nitrogen cycle, and his work could help us to grow crops more sustainably on Earth – and have applications in space! Luke is also part of the team working on the SpaCEA Space Foam Crop Growth Challenge, which will turn everyday citizens into Earth-bound astrobotanists.

In January 2016, Astronaut Scott Kelly wowed the world below with his space zinnias. But what happened next?

In 2021, One Giant Leap Australia sent golden wattle seeds into space, as part of a nationwide STEM project to explore “What’ll Happen to the Wattle??!”. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks to Jackie Carpenter about how the seeds got to space, and then back home again, and what’s next for the space-flown wattle seeds.

Later this year, when the XROOTS experiment comes to an end, NASA’s Veggie growing system will be starting a new challenge. VEG-05 is a long-awaited trial of whether we can grow tomatoes in space – in this case, the dwarf variety Red Robin.

SpaceX resupply mission CRS-25 has just launched to the International Space Station, carrying soil samples into space.

Header image: This lettuce produces a bone-stimulating hormone that could help stave off bone loss in space and on Earth. Image credit: Kevin Yates

There’s growing evidence that gardening on Earth has both physical and mental benefits. However, so far there has been little research into the psychological benefits of gardening in space. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener explores anecdotal evidence that suggests we should ensure long-duration space missions pack a greenhouse module, and takes a peek at an ongoing study into whether growing plants helps astronauts endure the stresses of space travel.

An uncrewed Blue Origin New Shepard flight with plant experiments onboard suffered a launch anomaly yesterday. A booster failure triggered the emergency escape system, which ejected the payload capsule and allowed it to make a safe landing. The FAA will now investigate the incident, and assess any risk to public safety, before New Shepard is cleared for launch again.

When ESA’s new Vega C rocket blasted off from French Guiana for the first time, on 13 July 2022, it carried an Italian garden into space.

Four new plant experiments launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on the SpaceX CRS-24 cargo mission: APEX-07, MVP-Plant-01, Plant Habitat-05 and Veggie PONDS-03R.

Watering plants in space is a bit tricky, and something NASA is still working on.In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener explores one of the designs they’ve been perfecting. The Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System (PONDS) is a Tupperware-based upgrade to the Veggie growing system.

In November 2021, Heinz announced to the world that they had successfully created a high-quality ketchup made from tomatoes grown in Martian conditions.

NBC News has made a lovely short video about NASA’s Plant Processing Lab at the Kennedy Space Center. Joshua Johnson reports on how NASA scientists are researching how to grow plants in space to make long-term space travel sustainable, and how research partners at the University of Florida are growing plants in soil from the Moon. 

Artemis I may be getting all of the attention right now, but on the International Space Station, the crew has grown a crop of radishes in XROOTS, and sowed tomatoes!

Gardeners of the Galaxy is celebrating its second birthday! So join Emma the Space Gardener as she chats with Dr Anna-Lisa Paul of the UF Space Plants Lab, one of the astrobotanists behind the recent groundbreaking experiments growing the first ever plants on real Moon soil. Anna-Lisa also talks about her wide-ranging experiences, from being an analog astronaut to flying with her plants on the vomit comet, and chooses a Fantasy Space Plant specially designed for growing off-world.

An extraordinary apple tree in a garden in Lincolnshire is 400 years old. It inspired Sir Isaac Newton to think about gravity, and in 2015 British astronaut Tim Peake took its pips into space. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks with Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education and Skills at the UK Space Agency, about sending Newton’s apple seeds into space. She finds out what’s happened to the space saplings and has a close encounter at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Header image: Plants are growing in complete darkness in an acetate medium that replaces biological photosynthesis. Credit: Marcus Harland-Dunaway/UCR

Monica Grady, The Open University

In January 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit conducted one of the most famous space plants experiments of all time… and it wasn’t even official!

In January 1992, Space Shuttle Discovery took the first-ever British plant experiment in microgravity into space.

We all know that spaceflight is tricky, and after 18 months of hearing about some amazing astrobotany successes, in this episode, Emma the Space Gardener looks into some space plant experiments that didn’t quite go according to plan. An astrobotanical blooper reel, if you like. 

Header image: Satellite imagery monitors environmental changes to inform agricultural decisions. Agricultural patterns are distinctly visible in this near-vertical false colour infrared photography of farmland south of Khartoum, Sudan. (JSC/NASA)

If you’ve ever carried out a research project, you know how hard it can be to find the relevant scientific papers. The SALAD (Space Agriculture Laboratory Analysis Database project aims to make astrobotany research widely accessible. By linking research papers according to their plants, spacecraft missions, and other details, SALAD compiles astrobotany research in one central location. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks with Sam Humphrey and Luke Concollato about the SALAD project.

Header image: Mars’ asteroid-sized satellites Deimos and Phobos. Image credit: ESA

In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks to Vertical Veg Man Mark Ridsdill Smith, an expert on small space gardening on Earth. Small space gardening shares many of the same constraints facing space gardeners, although harvesting runner beans up a ladder isn’t one of them!

How does an organic gardener, firmly rooted in the soil, develop an interest in plants grown in space?

In episode 35, Emma the Space Gardener explores why bioregenerative life support systems are things we only see in the movies, and how far NASA has come in its quest to build a space salad machine.

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement has just announced more details about the tree seeds they’ve packed into the Orion capsule for the upcoming Artemis I launch. They’re partnering with the USDA Forest Service in a STEM education project that sends a “new generation” of Moon Tree seeds to lunar orbit and connects Artemis I programming to Earth science, data literacy and citizen science orbit.

The long weekend has given me the chance to have a little play with video today, and this is the result.