Choosing crops for the Veggie space garden
21.08.2023 - 12:04
/ theunconventionalgardener.com
/ Emma Doughty
How does a kitchen gardener choose what to grow? It’s about balancing quite a complex set of variables, which include the space and time available, the local climate and soil, the gardener’s skill level and what they like to eat. That last one is, itself, quite a complicated topic as culture plays a significant role. There are many thousands of edible plants on the planet; most people only eat a small number and grow fewer still.
A gardener may choose to grow crops which produce the largest amount of food, or the greatest financial value of food, or the widest variety of food, or simply an assortment of exciting plants. And when a gardener has decided which species to grow, they then have to choose between varieties!
Choosing crops for a space garden is no less tricky. On the International Space Station, for example, space and power are both limited, and there’s a finite supply of water. It’s expensive keeping astronauts on the ISS, and their time is strictly controlled to make them as productive as possible, so leisurely gardening is pretty much out. Plants need to be compact, low-maintenance, fast-growing and productive while being tasty and nutritious. There are concerns about microbial growth, so there’s that, too. Oh, and there are no real cooking facilities on the ISS, so they’re basically limited to things that can be eaten raw.
When they were planning the Veggie growth system for the ISS, NASA investigated which species to grow in it. They were looking for leafy vegetables with good growth and nutrition, which the astronauts would enjoy eating.
They picked (and it’s not yet clear to me why) eight varieties to trial: ‘Tyee’ spinach, ‘Flamingo’ spinach, ‘Outredgeous’ Red Romaine lettuce, ‘Waldmann’s Dark Green’ leaf