Has anyone had any success by planting veg by using the phases of the moon?
I did it in 2005 because I happened across a gardening calendar using moon phases. It worked very well for the whole garden - bumper germination and crops and plants.
I've found a calendar for this year and will be following it too, starting with sowing broad beans on Valentine's day. I can't see me getting any otherggardening done before then as winter is bound to arrrive soon and in th emean time we have 100kph winds and horizontal rain!
Haven't tried it myself but an acquaintance on another site swore by it....
:)
It's a subject of enduring interest poderosa, if you search on A4a under 'moon' you'll find a lot of references, challenges, and credits. I figure I'd like all the help I can get, so I'll be waving at Obbelix from the broadie patch on Valentine's day ;D
Obbelix -- did you do some counter-moon-phase sowing as well in 2005 to compare?
Like SS, I find this subject fascinating though haven't ever tried it. I'll have a go this year with one or two veg, just as an experiment -- any suggestions as to a crop that'd benefit particularly? I'll sow some at the 'right' time and some at the 'wrong' time (then I'll just have to remember to record which is which ;D)
I´m going to try it! but your have to be more organised in the garden, being so busy at work, dont know if woek and biodynamics will work! found this link on another froum
www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/
:)
What a useful link, Biscombe -- thanks ;D
Great link. I also try to plant when the moon is waxing which I saw suggested in a book of old gardening lore. Good trigger for succession planting.
I tried a couple of years back, but found it really difficult to fit it in with work! Might give it another go though as I like the idea, it's just hard to make it down to the plot on the right days!
This is something I'm really interested in, but I think this year we're going to go with the regular methods seeing as it's our first time growing anything on an allotment and just see what happens. Perhaps we'll read up about it & incorporate some biodynamics into the mix on our 2nd or 3rd years. I'd love to see the results tho, so make sure you all take pics & post them for us nosey peeps to see! Good luck! x
I'm fine with the 'phases of the moon' planting. This makes sense.
What I don't understand is how the zodiac sign the moon is in can make a difference. Especially as I've found several online calendars that are all slightly different in terms of when the signs change - ie. one will say that a day is Leo, another says it's moved onto Virgo.
Will still be giving it a go this year, anyhow.
Quote from: fluffygrue on January 11, 2007, 11:28:09
I'm fine with the 'phases of the moon' planting. This makes sense.
What I don't understand is how the zodiac sign the moon is in can make a difference. Especially as I've found several online calendars that are all slightly different in terms of when the signs change - ie. one will say that a day is Leo, another says it's moved onto Virgo.
Will still be giving it a go this year, anyhow.
I wonder if it might be because there is another way which is very similar to biodynamic according to the site Biscombe mentioned http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/MoonPlanting.asp (http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/MoonPlanting.asp).
We will try this year as our friends have given us a book with all the phases of the moon. Trouble is that they bought it in France, so will have to translate!
Cannot see the logic in using the moon as a guide. I always thought the sun was a major factor, and with adequate moisture and nutrients, what difference does it make when something was sown or planted ?
My stuff gets planted as and when i can, gets as much care as possible (which sometimes isnt really enough), but the results i have had upto now would please most gardeners i would think. I guess im showing my agricultural roots, but most plants are built for survival and often are much hardier than it would appear.
I have been reading up last few years on gardening by the moon.
It must be a way forward as our lottie is using spring water not mains so is rashioned.
The moons phases controls the water levels in the oceans as well as on the land. So planting when the water leavel in the earth is at its heighest makes sence.
Roots will seek out water and go deeper in the earth to get moisture. If you water daily the roots will be surface feeding and dry out quicker?
I do plant or sow by urges like when its overcast or due to rain same with cutting the lawns.
I know some lottie holders plant and sow in full midday sun and water as well I just cannot understand it to me thats a waste of time.
I think its easier to work with mother nature than against her and my plants do well.
But that what makes gardeners different.
I've been searching for the biocdynamic calendar someone mentioned ages ago, so I've just subscribed to the feed for the calendar. It seems to change from day to day so it should be easy to plant seeds when it's supposed to be better for them.
On the programme about allotments (the big dig?) someone was planting using a similar method and was surprised at the difference it made in two lots of potatoes grown biodynamically and traditionally.
Seeds of Italy send out a mini calendar with just the waxing/waning moon information on, but you can also get that just from an ordinary diary.
The zodiac content is because certain signs are seen as fertile and others not so, for example, Leo is not favourable for planting or propagating but is excellent for weeding and tidying up.
The calendaar I had in 2005 gave me flower, leaf, root, fruit and do nothing at all days. I have a large garden but no greenhouse and I have a habit of going out to do one job then getting distracted by something else and not being as efficient as I might. I found that sticking to the activities prescribed for the day by the calendar meant I got loads more done and a side benefit was better germination of seeds, more successful cuttings and bumper crops.
I don't care how or why it works. It does for me and that's good enough.
Quote from: Obbelix on January 12, 2007, 08:30:56
I found that sticking to the activities prescribed for the day by the calendar meant I got loads more done and a side benefit was better germination of seeds, more successful cuttings and bumper crops.
I don't care how or why it works. It does for me and that's good enough.
Absolutely Obbelix! ;D
This is the site I found when looking into it a few years ago may be of interest?
http://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/index.html
Hmmm. I'm sceptical about how universally this works, but fairly convinced that it has some effect. Clearly animals are affected by the phase of the moon, and a brief examination of academic databases at my disposal brings up a few papers published on specific test species indicating some favourable trends in certain aspects of plant growth.
On the whole zodiac business (my personal opinion is that it's a load of round spherical objects) - I would suggest that it's just another way of relating to various cycles. It is interesting to note that some studies have found variation in growth behaviour related to the electromagnetic environment - this is strongly dependant upon the point in our orbit about the Sun and on sunspot activity which also seems to be cyclic.
However, as an engineer/scientist I find some of the sweeping statements made by groups putting this forward very irritating verging upon stupidity. ::) I'm very pleased to see people around here taking the reasonable line of "it seems to help" :)
No offense Teresa, but I would strongly question the source suggesting that the moon affects water in the soil as it does the tides. ??? I can find no evidence to support this and based on my small knowledge of fluid and soil mechanics I strongly suspect they simply won't permit any significant effect within the soil from such a relatively weak force. As always I would be very happy to be proven wrong if somebody has a decent study on this ;D
TR - I don't think you can call something that has such an important effect on tides "a weak force" and the comparable amounts of water in plants and soil are so much lighter and therefore easier to influence. I can see why you're sceptical buy have to remind you that
a) it's hard to prove a negative so you shoudn't in your turn make sweeping statements about it being a load of balls.
b) nothing is ever scientifically proven till scientists ask the right questions and that means having the imagination, interest and the funding to do so
c) original science was based on observation and here I remind you that the whole seasonal crop sowing and harvesting thing began because of observation of solar and lunar cycles which affected agriculture. Experimentation to prove a theory came later.
d) Look how long it took to convince scientists and medics that smoking caused cancer or that CO2 emissions cause global warming! It took a while to get the experiments and observation done to provide the proof. There is no current financial benefit to agri industry in funding research into something which will reduce farmers' and gardeners' needs for all their lovely products so we're just going to have to go with personal opinions and willingness to try this sytem in our own gardens - or not, as the case may be.
<sigh>
Sorry Obbelix, I've been rather less than clear :-[ - I assumed too many things were "obvious" because I knew what I meant; it's a common trap into which I fell.
As regards the zodiac business: I am NOT at all dismissing the potential benefits of planting/cutting times - this I can see reasons for (as I indicated) and would really like to see some decent investigation and refinement of the theory. The spherical comment was meant with regard to horoscopes - as a say that's my belief.
As regards forces, gravity is the weakest of all and it's magnitude is dependant upon both masses involved, and other factors have much stronger effects upon the movement of small volumes of liquid.
By way of a demonstration, pour a glass of whiskey, liquor, or other highly alcoholic drink; if you swirl the glass then fairly shortly you should see that there are droplets running down the side of the glass towards the liquid surface, and yet as they get to the point where they are about to join the rest of your drink, they suddenly jump back from the surface as though they have dipped a toe in the sea and found it's very cold! 8) This is caused by a difference in surface tension telling gravity to get knotted because the drop has a very slightly different alcohol concentration to the rest of your drink - each droplet will usually hop several times before eventually becoming similar enough to enter the bulk liquid.
Now consider that similar things happen in plant capilliaries and soil but the same surface tensions will be acting upon less than a one hundredth of the weight of water...
As regards scientific funding, well, yes we are often industry's bitches, BUT there is still some money about (in Europe at least) without commercial ties. Indeed some of the evidence to which I refered comes from it and was published in reputable scientific journals - we will get there little by little. And you really shouldn't diss scientists on the whole global warming or cancer business - it's more often politicians and public you need to swing, for which you need acurate media not sensationalism! >:(
I am so, so sorry! This has all gone a bit rant-ish!
best wishes
PB
Not only that, but I find it hard to see soil water moving measurably under the influence of a force that is not only weak, but also rotates in a circle roughly once in 25 hours.
Hi TR - No rant intended and I wasn't having a go at scientists about cancer etc - just about people not believing stuff until full proof was thrust down their throat. Sometimes observation and personal experience is enough. I have come across a lot of scientists who dismiss anything not proven but then forget how long it took to prove the earth goes round the sun, blood circulates in the body etc. Just because it hasn't been explained doesn't mean it ain't so.
The basic form of lunar gardening simply follows waxing and waning. Then there's one that divides its cycle into 4 even quarters for various activities. There's another more complex one after that and then the zodiac thing which began in ancient Egyptian times as a result of observing what worked best when the moon was in certain constellations.
I don't pretend to understand it but it seems to work and if I get better results using it then it's good enough for me. I no longer understand how car engines work since all this electronic and computerised stuff came in but I know it works if I turn on the ignition and use the pedals in the right sequence an dremember to fill up with fuel.
As it happens I teach English to a bunch of agricultural scientists here who are involved in various EU funded research projects so I shall ask them about it next week and tell you what they say about how easy/hard it is to get funding. One or two are also keen gardeners.
Thanks to all the information regarding biodynamics. I will be giving it a go this year. G
As promised, I mentioned it to the agri scientists today and they were highly amused and very scoffy. I then explained the 4 different kinds of lunar gardening and they accepted there might be a difference between waxing and waning moon phases. They predictably were very intellectually superior about the astrology thing but agree that biodynamic principles are worthy of research.
One of them has offered to hunt around EU science projects to see if there is a current study and he will also sow broad beans on Valentine's Day and the following week to see if there is any difference. This is a generous gesture as he doesn't really like broad beans. He's also willing to try other crops later in the year.
I pointed out that as oil supplies will soon run out there will be no more oil based pesticides and fertilisers to be had so alternatives would be needed - or a better farming and gardening system. Global warming may well reduce rainfall in many parts so any system which maximises plant access to available water was worth trying. They agreed and suggested I design a study and they would ask for funding!!! Very funny!
Good for you Obbelix 8)
Like Trojan I am a bit sceptical.
I would like to try a test here in A4A
Who is harvesting any of the following now (January)?
Angelica , Aubergines (Eggplant) , Beetroot , Borage , Broad Beans (Fava) , Brussels Sprouts , Cabbages , Caraway , Carrots , Cauliflowers , Celeriac , Celery , Chervil , Chicory , Chinese Cabbage , Chives , Dill , Florence Fennel , French Beans , French Tarragon , Garlic , Horseradish , Kale , Leeks , Lettuce , Onions , Parsnips , Peas , Pumpkins , Radish , Rhubarb , Runner Beans , Salsify , Scorzonera , Seakale , Spring Onions , Squashes , Swedes , Sweet Peppers , Swiss Chard , Tomatoes , Turnips
I have highlighted what I have but things such as aubergines and sweet peppers no way.
As far as planting/sowing is concerned that might be a different matter.
What do you think?
I did a bit of research on it a few years ago ( http://tinyurl.com/yx3xcw ) In practice it got a bit complicated when it came to waxing & waning, now I just stick to my almanac.
This has taken twenty plus years to produce so perhaps unbeknown to me it fits in with the moon phases. ??? ::)
We're harvesting Dwarf Green Curly Kale, Cavolo Nero(Kale), Celeriac, Winter Lettuces (Bronze Arrow, Merveille de Quatre Saisons) and some rather feeble Leeks (also Jerusalem Artichokes but you didn't ask about those).
Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, curly kale and Swiss chard. I have some Savoy cabbages maturing too. In a normal winter it gets too cold for anything else.
I shall see what the Thursday group of agri scientists says. One of them is a keen gardener too.