Monday Aug 08, 2022
Dandelion with Fiona Burnett (GotG46)
Gardeners of the Galaxy
Gardeners of the Galaxy is a podcast for all of the sentient beings in the Universe who have a passion for plants. Emma the Space Gardener is your guide as you explore cultivating the cosmos, planting planets and sowing seeds in space.
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Episodes
Episodes
Monday Jul 25, 2022
Monday Jul 25, 2022
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.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy
Monday Jul 11, 2022
Monday Jul 11, 2022
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.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy.
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks to Mission Specialist Susan Young. Susan's new book, "Growing Beans: A Diet for Healthy People and Planet" aims to get us to look beyond green beans, as growing and eating shelled beans - fresh and dried - has numerous benefits for us and our home planet.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy
Monday May 30, 2022
Monday May 30, 2022
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.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy.
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Monday Apr 25, 2022
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.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Monday Mar 21, 2022
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 in Cornwall.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy.
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Getting a plant payload into space is rarely straightforward. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener chats with Dr Carl Carruthers, who started out sending his own research projects into space and then became Chief Scientist at Nanoracks. There he worked on projects to send palm tree seeds to the International Space Station for the UAE, and to design a kit to turn school kids into space farmers.
Support the show via Patreon and get early access to episodes, sneak peeks behind the scenes and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
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.
Sign up to the Gardeners of the Galaxy newsletter for new episode alerts and bonus content: https://emmadoughty.substack.com/
Plants. In Space.
The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited for more than 20 years, but the astronauts that live there have only grown a few mouthfuls of food. As we make the move into deep space, to the Moon, and on to Mars, we need to learn how to grow plants in space, and that's what Gardeners of the Galaxy is all about.