Moscow, Feb 2 (IANS): Those who have a garden attached to their house and still don't grow vegetables must go green with envy at the news.

Astronauts are growing vegetables in an experimental greenhouse named Lada aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that are safe to eat.

So far, station crews have harvested peas, leafy greens and a variety of dwarf wheat, all of which have now been certified as safe to eat, Russian researcher Margarita Levinskikh from Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems told an annual space conference in Moscow recently.

After undergoing repairs this year, the greenhouse would be re-stocked with rice, tomatoes and bell peppers.

In addition to eventually supplementing the crew's diet, the crops would be analysed to see if they genetically change in space.

The results are encouraging for space habitat dream, said the institute, a cooperative effort between the institute and the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University.