If These Can Be Grown On Mars You Can Grow Them In Your Garden

Earlier this week, the Daily Mail published an article about some research on what crops might be able to be grown in lunar soil or in Martian soil. From the article:

      Using simulated lunar and Martian regolith obtained from NASA mixed with some organic matter, the team were able to harvest the fruits of some crops, as well as their seeds -- some of which can be used to grow a new generation of crops.

     The study was conducted by a team of scientists at Wageningen University & Research who attempted to grow 10 different crops on simulated Lunar and Martian soil, known as regoliths, as reported by Modern Farmer.

     ‘If humans are going to establish a base on the Moon or on Mars they will have to grow their own crops,' reads the study published in Open Agriculture.

     'An option is to use Lunar and Martian regolith.'

     ‘These regoliths are not available for plant growth experiments, therefore NASA has developed regolith simulants.’

      ‘The major goal of this project was to cultivate and harvest crops on these Mars and Moon simulants.’

     The study examined ten different crop types: garden cress, rocket, tomato, radish, rye, quinoa, spinach, chives, pea, and leek.

     And the only one to fail was spinach.

I'm a little disappointed that they didn't try potatoes.