photosynthesis Plants absorb sunlight and turn that energy into food; the process is known as photosynthesis. This is a compound word made up of photo (which means light) and synthesis (which means to put together). Think of a synthesizer, which puts together different sounds to produce music. A plant uses light to put together chemical compounds and turn them into carbohydrates: food. Although the word can be used to describe any process that uses light to connect compounds, the word is almost always used to describe a plant's method of making food.
Hereâs a great resource on growing lettuces (permaculture) in a tropical climate. Herbs. Cilantro, Basil, Italian flat leaf parsley, and rosemary thrive well even under tropical conditions and without needing a high elevation. Legumes. Mung bean is the easiest to grow and will make a great cover crop.
1 Pulse crops are versatile, adding flexibility to cropping systems. 2  If growing conditions turn dry, pulse crops can be harvested or grazed for forage or terminated to conserve soil moisture-the soil will still benefit from nitrogen fixation, rotation, and having a cover crop. Pluse crop acres have increased from 350,000 in 2009 to over 700,000 in 2014. 2  Pulse crops require little (if any) nitrogen fertilizer; instead they fix nitrogen from the air into the soil. 3  Pulse crops help break disease and pest cycles in wheat and barley.