Topic: Luna Planting - In Tune with the Moon Discount

[tonybloke]

Your right it isn't... the author describes his method of growing as 'biodynamic' but it a'int
Biodynamic growing does interest me but for this year we will have our moon bed and our organic control bed...

I'll watch with interest!! ;)

[Moon Grower]

Will keep you posted Tony Bloke...

[vegmandan]

I'm trying a new approach this year.

I've got a bed planned, which will be only planted on the 3rd full moon of Krypton by socially disadvantaged minorities, and only using 100% recycled organic eco friendly waste,bagged up by a Peruvian who is on the Fair Trade scheme.

Don't know how I'll do but I'll have a warm glow of satisfaction when eating my one carrot from the entire bed knowing that I've done my bit in saving mother earth.

OK,Ya !   ;D

[amphibian]

The biodynamic approach to treating slugs is just briliant.

You have to collect 50 slugs from your plot and cremate them, you then dilute a minute quantity of the ash ina  barrel of water, which you have to stir in a particular pattern for an enormous amount of time, eventually the water will become energised and its physical state will change, you will know this has happened because the water will thicken making it harder to stir. You then water this preparation on to the affected area. If teh slugs do not go away you repeat until they do.

Now three major issues here:-

Firstly the treatment is effectively homoeopathy for the garden.

Secondly the water changes state... hmm and you know this because it's harder to stir, so basically it's because your arm gets tired.

Thirdly, you repeat until it works. Now If I collect 50 slugs and destroy them and I keep repeating this, of course it will have an affect, I can do this without the hocus pocus.

I'm sceptical, despite being a bona fide, yoghurt weaving hippy born and raised in a hippy commune.

[tonybloke]

I'm trying a new approach this year.I've got a bed planned, which will be only planted on the 3rd full moon of Krypton by socially disadvantaged minorities, and only using 100% recycled organic eco friendly waste,bagged up by a Peruvian who is on the Fair Trade scheme.

where are you getting this  fair trade peruvian stuff from? can I have the address/ I want some!!
Please take photo's, and take regular readings of soil temp, humidity, moon phase, astrological movements / influences etc. It will be interesting to see how you get on!
 or where you takin the p*ss?
P.s. you still ain't sent your address for the moon phase book I offered!
Are you scared of giving it a serious go?

[Tee Gee]

Controversial isnt it but I am enjoying the opinons (and I guess opinions is what they are)

This bit;  Never trust a student reminded of a thought I often get;


As a lover of 'University Challenge' on TV I often think when the students are introducing themselves and they say ;  I'm reading this and I'm reading that.

..................what if the subject has never been written about ??? ::) Or could it be that  todays education is just 'plagiarism' ??? ::) and does no one think for themselves?

Food for thought isn't it ::)

Carry on with your opinions folks I for one am enjoying it, but I still don't think I will change my habits of a life time!

[Moon Grower]

What I want to know is,these folk who follow this Lunar Planting stuff to the letter,what happens If on the perfect time and date (according to your charts)  you get to your plot and it's either flooded after 2 inches of rain or frozen solid after a really hard frost?

Do you still sow/plant regardless even if the ground is in no fit state? :'(

Or do you have to wait another 28 days? ???

No of course you don't go ahead and work on the land if the ground is waterlogged or frozen solid - that would just be plain daft! But that does not mean you have to wait 28 days to [for example] work with flower plants... today and tomorrow are good days for doing this but if it is tipping it down with rain or the ground is frozen the next time you can work with flower plants is 5 - 6 March, miss that slot and it is 15 - 16 March... so there is no panic if you can't do something for a week or so.
We were away to the south of Scotland from Friday to yesterday, when we came back the ground was sodden - had rained just about all the time fortunately we are only sowing under protection right now.
Might add that since the snow has gone the garden is a mass of colour with bulbs popping u palomst overnight :)

[PurpleHeather]

Results of a trial did prove that waxing and waning of the moon did actually work

One is for top veg like cabbage
T'other is for roots like carrots.

Sadly I can not remember which way round but do remember it happening.

So you could test it for yourself.

[Moon Grower]

By the way you can still get that discount on the book if you want to buy it!

[Tyke]

Toby Buckland did a trial for the January GW mag that's probably as close as you'll get to a lab trial.  He made 2 matching sunny plots and planted one according to the moon book and doing exactly the opposite in the other.  I can't copy the whole article here but - he grew 9 different crops and assessed each for germination rate, growing on and yield.  Overall peas and parsley did better in the moon bed.  The rest there was really no difference.  He started out sceptical but concedes there may be a grain of truth in the theory.  In favour, he thinks it helps with planning, is worth using for crops that are slow to germinate and is a good guide for improving the success of plants sown out of season.  Against, he says you need to be time-rich to do things when the book says so, it's prescriptive and takes away the freedom of gardening, it's complicated with the contrary forces at work.

mmm... wasn't quite my reading of what he meant. Many of the gardening mags mention it from time to time. The usual result is that it doesn't make any difference, but "who knows, give it a go". The books on it i have read have a lot on nourishing the soil and other gardening good practice lumped in with it. I would guess that if you feed your plants they would grow well - regardless of the moon. The effect of the moon on the liquids in human beings is so small as to be virtually unmeasurable. Plants are even smaller....

[Tyke]

No I'm not... that is why we are running this trial with a moon bed and a control bed. We will use organic principles with both beds... so if there is a difference we can accept it is the lunar influence. But, this is going to take until the end of the year to have any sort of real answer. Yes other folk have tried and tested... I need to be sure for me :)

I would guess that for a good trial you would need to run the experiment for many, many years to rule out random fluctuations. One bed could turn out better than the other in a given year because the weather etc just happens to be better at sowing time etc.. Statistically you normally need quite a big sample to get any meaningful results...

[Moon Grower]

mmm... wasn't quite my reading of what he meant. Many of the gardening mags mention it from time to time. The usual result is that it doesn't make any difference, but "who knows, give it a go". The books on it i have read have a lot on nourishing the soil and other gardening good practice lumped in with it. I would guess that if you feed your plants they would grow well - regardless of the moon. The effect of the moon on the liquids in human beings is so small as to be virtually unmeasurable. Plants are even smaller....

Hi Tyke I agree - unless you do exactly the same manuring etc of both moon and control beds then it isn't a fair trial. David has manured both beds. The moon bed got manured at 3 different times [depending on crop to be grown] the control bed was manured in a oner

[Moon Grower]

Okay I am offering one happy Allotments 4 All forumist a copy of In Tune with the Moon for free... let me know if you are interested

[Moon Grower]

Okay I am offering one happy Allotments 4 All forumist a copy of In Tune with the Moon for free... let me know if you are interested

Which has now gone to LBB