Move over Mars, we could farm on asteroids!

When I clear the next bed it will be time to plant the overwintering onions. I choose to plant my onions in the autumn for two reasons; the first is that I like having the beds filled overwinter. It’s nicer than having a bare garden to look at. The second is that they are harvestable about a month earlier in the summer, which means their bed is available for replanting a month earlier, and that works for me.

In Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs I talk about the journeys plants have made with us – crisscrossing the globe and leaving Earth entirely for missions in space.

Over the last Bank Holiday weekend I got a little over-ambitious with the outdoor cooking, given that we still only have the small bucket bbq to cook on. For some reason I decided it was time to try a three-course lunch.

Ryan and I first visited Butser Ancient Farm on a blustery, cold day in February 2014. We loved it so much we decided to take some workshops there this year. Ryan is booked on a sword-making workshop next month, and we both recently spent a morning there learning about ancient cooking.

Ryan and I have been away for the weekend, a last minute break booked on Thursday evening when it looked – again – like the purchase of our new house* was going to fall through. We have been to Hayling Island, and seen the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens, and West Dean Gardens. More on those last two later in the week.

We’ve had the Hydroponicum for over a year now. It has kept us supplied with salads and stir-fry veg, and I’ve grown one or two more experimental crops as well. Not everything I have tried has been successful. My spinach bolted (I’m not sure why, and I haven’t tried again yet). Alliums don’t seem to like germinating in the hydroponic seedling tray, and coriander downright refused. Coriander seedlings will grow hydroponically, though, so I may try allium transplants at some point.

Pancake day (AKA Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras) has got to be the one holiday of the year that’s devoted to avoiding food waste. In keeping with grand tradition, Ryan and I whipped up a batch of pancakes, using the last egg in the fridge and about half of the remaining apple & cinnamon bread flour, and they were delicious. For most people this is probably a token effort (especially as it’s no longer common to avoid rich foods such as eggs, milk and sugar during Lent, with people preferring to give up booze, excessive screen time or being rude to people), but we’re doing very well at avoiding food waste.

I’m hoping to go and see The Martian soon, one of the few films to feature a botanist as the hero. Astronaut Mark Watney is one of the first humans to set foot on Mars, but accidentally gets left behind and has to survive on his own – and to do so he grows potatoes. He wouldn’t be the first person (or even population) to rely on potatoes for survival, but here on Earth there’s a slight snag. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) has an arch nemesis – late blight, caused by an organism called Phytophthora infestans. It cuts down both potatoes and tomatoes, and was the biological cause of the Irish Potato Famine in the 19th century.

I’m a firm believer in composting. In the years in which I haven’t really had a garden, I have mourned the loss of valuable resources as I sent my compostables off in the municipal collections.

The original plant crew for the AeroGarden: Cuttings mission was garden mint, sage and rosemary. As I expected, the garden mint was the first to root, and is growing well – to the point of crowding the others out! Sage rooted second, and is putting on new growth. Rosemary was slow to root, but has now done so and is starting to show some new leaves!

Ever since we watched Away, Ryan and I have a new toast: “To Mars”. Unlike that fictional crew, we have no hope of ever reaching the red planet. But there are an increasing number of days when I think it would be nice to leave humanity’s mess behind and start afresh on a new world. But the prospect of forming a colony elsewhere in the solar system is a long way off, and when people talk about life on Mars they’re usually referring to alien life. 

Header image: Terrae Novae destinations: Mars. Credit: ESA–Olivier Pâques