Gardens in unusual places: iceberg lettuce on the menu?

The white square next to the Red Shed living quarters is the hut that houses one of Antarctica’s handful of veggie gardens. It’s a cosy 20+ degrees inside so there’s no shortage of volunteer labour.

Hydroponically, lettuce is the star ingredient for the egg and lettuce sandwiches relished as snacks by the team…though to spoil a good headline only varieties that can be picked leaf by leaf like cos or mignonette are grown. In the short walk from the garden back to the Red Shed, team members have to carry the picked leaves in a warm container otherwise they freeze.

There may be no caterpillars, possums and the like, but there are other hazards. Drips can freeze the door shut. Watering water has to be kept warm. Only sterilized seeds can be used. Crops can fail. One year there was only one tomato ripe enough for the traditional slap-up mid-winter’s feast. Being a caring/sharing mob, they ritually cut that tomato into 24 exact pieces.

January 2018