Gardening by the moon

No this is not an article about doing all your gardening chores at night time, I thought about a comment made at our gathering the other day about Moon planting and it stirred my curiosity, and not one to let things lie, I have done a little research. I found charts and astral sites, and astrological signs that best represents your crop, however I soon realised that the subject is more than just whacking some seeds in on a full moon.

The following is a bit of a generalisation, The Moon has three significant rhythms that relate to three methods of Moon planting

• Water is the mediator of lunar forces. Consider the moons effect on tides and since 80% of a plant consists of water, then the effect on sap movement would be significant.


• When water is rising during the Waxing Moon, seeds sown and crops planted can more easily take up liquids than those sown in the waning phase.


• Lunar forces are associated with fertility and the power to regenerate species.


• It has been found that seeds germinate better & grow faster if planted 2 days before a full moon.


• Medicines such as drenches are also more effective on full moon.


• Moon affects moisture contents of the plant. e.g.Full moon fruit or veggies are juicy .Great for eating now!


• New moon –harvest fruit & veggies that need storage


• Hay dries faster if cut on new moon


• Best timber is cut at winter new moon less sap.


• Prune on New moon Transplant seedlings


• 'From the new moon to the first quarter, a time when there is a greater upward pull by the moon, is a good time to be planting anything with a leaf product.


• From the first quarter through to the full moon is when you can concentrate on above-the-ground growth, the fruiting type of plants


• From the full moon through to the last quarter is a time to be focusing on root crops


• And in the last quarter through to the new moon you can either have a week off, or it’s really good time for weeding and mulching.

So of course armed with all this information, I'm no more informed than before and I will have to do things the old fashioned way- visit our local library. Hopefully I'll be able to bring to the next gathering an armful of useful information, in the meantime this i found to be a good link http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/MoonPlanting.html

Eden seeds has a good chart found here http://www.edenseeds.com.au/content/default.asp follow link to books and then under M this chart MOON PLANTING GUIDE FOR GARDENERS 2008 - WALL CHART

Maybe there is some sense to 'Carrying moonbeams home in a jar'