Dominic-Luc Webb wrote in message ...
Brilliant work Bill. I feel inspired. I just started
gardening this year, got myself a garden very close
to Martian conditions... near Uppsala, Sweden.

Coincidentally, I am growing Mexican koriander. Please consider
this is also important for Mexican foods, like Salsa Verde. My
land is 10x100 meters and I am putting up a shelter and greenhouse.
My background is molecular medicine, so I have some biology
training. We were just discussing amongst some of the other
gardeners there, some more serious science. You have revitalized
my interests.

I would like to find out what a lunar soil would consist of,
including particle sizes. I am sure it will work fine as a supporting
substrate, but some heavier metals, if present, could accumulate
into leaves and fruits rendering them inedible. The extent of this
could depend on thing like temperature, freeze-thaw cycles, particle
size, moisture content, pH, etc.

I shall be interested to see how your work progresses...

Dominic-Luc Webb

There must be some lunar soil in the science lab of a university near
you that could shed light on some of these Q's. A Google search is
another obvious avenue.

I just measured the interior cubic volume of space inside my
astroculture "shed" described he-
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...oculture2.html

and its approx. 338 cubic feet.
With your molecular medicine background would you happen to have any
idea as to how much plant foliage would be required to fill this
volume of space with oxygen to the tune of "1 atmosphere" (if that's
the right way to put it)? I suppose that would also depend on the
volume of CO2 provided for intake and how good the cycle was working.

Does the amount of oxygen produced by a plant generally depend on the
surface area of its leaves and are some plants better than others in
their oxygen outputs? Is there a 'best plant' for oxygen output and
does it all depend on temperatures, etc?
These are some of the Q's I was hoping to get answers to using simple
"hands on" experiments in the facility described on my web page.
NASA research into wheat and soy bean experiments conducted aboard the
ISS must have some of these answers... I just don't know where they
are.

cheers
Abdul Ahad