John Louis

Small tree? Just hand ppick them off. They won't bite.

King stropharia is a good beginner species that chews up mulch pretty quick

I've had good luck with Amish Paste tomatoes. As for teaching plant genetics, we have used "Wisconsin fast plants" (A fast growing mustard)in Our AP Bio class. You can grow tiny plants on a small space indoors and have only a few weeks between generations.

I would look into the geology of your area. I was lucky to find myself in a sandstone area, and we put in a drywell to ease the stress on an old system. If you are on limestone, you may just be dumping greywater back into your well. Drywemk DIY was simple but lots of work .