Garden by the moon?

Cool, defoe! Gotta check that out...

I do not plant by the moon however when gathering it is done best when there is a full moon.This works real well in the neighbors garden.

LOL, Hemental.

I don't recall a subject/question that has prompted more humor than this concept of gardening by the moon.

I don't follow any rules when gardening ... I do what I want when I want and it usually does well.

I have used Robert Thomas' The Old Farmers Almanac for most of my like. I believe that, given proper culture and growing conditions seeds can sprout and produce fruit any time.

For myself - I like to know the signs are right. I pay a LOT of money for my daylily seeds and sometim,es for coleus seeds. It only makes good sense to use the proper time to plant them.

I do know for a fact that if you shingle a roof, or plant fence posts when the 'horns' of the moon are in the up position - the shingles will curl and the posts will work their way out of the ground.

Sometimes I garden by the light of the moon--does that count?

We garden by the moon as we can and when we can't we don't worry about it.

KyWoods, it's MARTIANS that have green thumbs, not moonbeams (which is the official term for moon men). Geez. Some people just don't pay attention to science!

se_eds, now you've given me one more thing to worry about. Won't they be up when the moon is going down if they were down when the moon is going up? THIS is why things get complicated.

NO I don't and I don't read my horoscope either. I find both to be silly. I have a great garden, and I plant it when and where I can. It is how you take care of it, not how the moon is when you plant it.

I'm with lrchr
Will someone explain what effect the moon has on plants,
The only thing I can see is that there is more or less sun light reflected from the moon.
I understand that the tides are created from the extra gravitational pull when the moon and sun are somewhat aligned.
Does this cause plants to react in some how
This is only a temporary thing.


This message was edited Jul 5, 2007 12:22 PM

If the moon has an effect on shingles on a home then lots of people around here are gonna be some curly shingled people since after Rita EVERYONE got new roofs without checking the moon cycle *LOL* I haven't seen any curling up...Hey Brigidlily how bout you? You seen any?

Tides are only a temporary thing, too, Hemental, but the French use them to generate electricity http://oceanenergycouncil.com/faqtidal.html and ships enter/leave harbors according to them.

I've used the almanac as a guide for years and have had considerable success in propagating, pruning, etc.

no, not a lot of smiling roofs around here... plenty of blue ones, though, two years later!

LOL, brigidlily, I forgot that the little green men are from Mars...wonder what color the women on Venus are???

I'll ask and get back to you...

Brig It must have been a blue moon.lol
There are plenty of them still here.

I sowed my indoor seeds this spring when the moon was waxing, but my germination rates were terrible. Maybe the seeds were not viable. They were all Meconopsis.

Waxing helps, but there are other signs to be aware of also. http://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/signs.html

Temperature dictates when I garden. I do cuttings when I have time to keep them watered. I do seedlings indoors or by winter-sowing, and I start that in January. The moon plays NO PART in when I garden. I have a friend who gardens solely by the phases of the moon, but as for me - I garden when I CAN!

I use it as a virtual comandment. I rarely do anything garden-wise out of moon phase.

It's got nothing to do with astrology. Nothing at all. My Grandfather was a minister and he taught me all about it as a child. He scoffed at the notion of astrology, but he called it solar science. He learned it from his Father and his Father's Father and so forth.

I could write a book about my experiences using the moon signs for planting and transplanting.

Here's an easy experiment you can all try. Lay a half sheet of plywood out on the grass; leave it there for a month. If the moon was waxing when you put it down, the grass will be yellow but will green up almost instantly when the board is removed. If the moon was waning, the grass below will be dead.

There is no question in my mind that it produces far better results than just doing things when you can get to it. I cut my lawn by it, I even cut my hair by it.

Many years ago, I was renovating an old, old farm. I needed a trail to get to an area where I was planting the corn, beans and potatoes. The direct route was so overgrown you'd need a machete. Otherwise it meant a quarter mile walk around. I took the cover off an old lawn mower(very danerous) and set the blades for ground level. I waited till the moon was waning in Leo and cut a wide path to my other garden, probably 300 feet or so and I cut everything down to the ground level including throwing up a lot of dust in the process. Some of these bushes had 3-4 inch bases. It was tough going and took me all afternon.

Three years later, not a single thing had yet to re-grow along my path to the other garden.

There were several other older farmers in the area who both marveled at my vegetables but also knew exactly what I had done to clear that path.

It's a long time well known fact that this works and works well. I used to think everyone who was serious about gardening/farming knew this. I guess that's not so true anymore from reading these responses.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2007 2:39 AM

I don't garden by the moon but I do believe there is something to it. Never took the time to check into gardening by the moon because I generally have to do what I have to do when I have time. If that means weeding around the house with the floodlights after nightfall or drilling holes for bulbs with a flashlight, that's when I garden.

I do have a moon garden though. Does this count? This is a garden specifically for moths. I rarely see actual moon gardens mentioned in the threads but I do enjoy sitting out on warm bright nights watching the moths flit from plant to plant.

Ooo, Equil, do tell about the moon garden! I love the many colorful moths out there!

Turn off all exterior lights-
http://www.back-garden-moths.co.uk/Techniques.htm

Plant white, pale yellow, and night blooming plants and sit back and watch the show.

Here are sites with the basics-
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/champaign/homeowners/040124.html
http://www.dreamsalivemagazine.com/spring2005/moon-garden/
http://hernando.fnpschapters.org/pdfs/moongarden.pdf

i use what has always worked for me. starting tomato seeds 6 to 8 weeks before last frost date, eggplants and hot peppers 12 weeks before last frost date and then plant into the ground 15 days after the last frost date.

I heard about it when I was a teenager and into reading every kind of astrology/horoscope book that came down the pike:LOL: I wasn't into gardening then but I have read a bit about the process and it does seem pretty interesting. If I was a more consistant gardeners I would definitely be willing to try it. I will try the wood/dead grass experiment though just for fun. I have also heard about the haircut by the moon phases thing--wish I had known about it years ago after a bad haircut in the 80's:LOL:

Thanks for the fascinating links, Equilibrium! It never occurred to me that I could have a moon garden, and I didn't know moths liked such flowers. Another project to consider, since I love going out on the deck at night to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the lovely woods surrounding us!

I hope some people don't misunderstand and think you have to plant, etc. by the light of the moon.

I don't garden at night under lights as a rule, though I have done it on occasion.

It means using the phases of the moon to do certain things; plant, weed, harvest and so forth. This is done in the daytime. Sometimes the phase may change at say 3PM, so I get the right stuff done before then. Then I may shift gears and start a different project based on the next moon sign.

Planting or harvesting on a full or new moon has nothing to do with it, it all depends on the sign the moon is in. The waxing and waning of the moon also play a big role here as well.

It absolutely works and there is no question in my mind of it. I have done experiments a few times doing things at the wrong time just to see what happens. Sure, you generally get results, but nothing like the results when compared to those done under the proper moon signs.

What she said! ; - >


Donna

Well.. just to discuss what effect the tides. or rather the moon's gravitational force has on plants. About 20 years ago I was doing a service project in Golfito, Costa Rica. I was collecting arachnids in the rain forest and some recently reclaimed rainforest areas. A costa Rican guide and i would head out early in the morning and tromp around the rainforest all day catching critters. He had lived int eh area all his life and knew the rainforests well. As we walked he would talk about diferent things about the forest, pointing out special plants and animals. One day he showed me a vine that drapped through the trees. I can' remember the name he gave it but he told me that when the tide was high you could drink from the vine. TO demonstrate he took his machete and lopped off a 2 foot section, Lifted it up and water poured out of the vine into his mouth. We used those vines a few times and he showed me the difference when tides were low.. nothing or just a drop or two. It was an amazing thing

There's gotta be something to it. The 'Old Farmers Almanac' has been around for what -- a hundred years or more? It would never have lasted if it had not offered some truths.
Hereabouts, there are only 2 indexes I can follow -- the heat index during the day and the skeeter index after dark.
But seriously, I believe that the Old Farmer's Almanac has lost a bit of it's credibility by adding a lot of what I would call 'mumbo-jumbo' into its publication.

I don't garden by the moon, although I've known people who do, and claim that it helps. One of these years I oughtta try it!
I do however know that the full moon affects people in strange ways- I work in retail, and on nights when the moon is full you really CAN see the oddities come out in people- its strange to see, but true :-)
Samantha

Reminds me of an old disco song, "The freaks come out at night, the freaks come out at night...". LOL

What a cool job, jazzpunkin! How come I can't find jobs like that!?

Hey KyWoods, Well it wasn't a job in the sense that I got any money for doing it, but it was pretty cool. My guide really got into lifting things and peeling bark to find stuff.. One day he had pulled up a huge piece of bark off of a fallen tree and there were about 5 large scorpions underneath, tails raised and not happy to be disturbed. He was looking at the other end of the log and didn't see them and they were inches away from his hand. I was standing there going ..umm ummm.. ummmm.. trying to remember the Spanish words and finally spit out "Cuidado!" never saw anyone pull their hands back so fast. He later told me that the "big ones" weren't as bad as the little ones.

I think there's a lot of merit in gardening by the moon. However, I garden when I have time and the weather cooperates. If I added the moon phases into that equation, I doubt I would get any gardening done.

Oftentimes, folks are gardening (and tending to other matters), using the signs - they just weren't actually aware of it, at the time!

It's similar to when we trim our fingernails and/or cut our hair, etc. Sometimes it seems to grow back out so quickly .. and on other occasions, it doesn't. You could jes about bet, it just so happened to be done 'at the right time/under the right sign' .. or, vice-versa: depending. .. LOL

- Magpye

I'm a disorganized person and the moon calendar helps me to focus on one thing at a time. Today's a good day for weeding? Then I'll do some weeding, and not fret about the million other things that need doing in the garden. Ultimately, I get a lot more done.

Zeppy, when you put it like that...maybe I need to pick up and almanac or moon-gardening book and give it a try. I start one thing and get distracted and end up with three unfinished things:LOL:

Zeppy, I, too, find your idea most intriguing. I suffer from the same syndrome. In fact, sometimes I will get so frustrated and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that need to be done that I will end up doing nothing at all! Your idea seems simple but amazingly effective. Hmm, maybe I'll give it a try. Now where does one FIND that almanac?

Spirit 325 ... or anyone else who can answer my question ... could you post a simple guide to go by? I don't have time for strict schedules, but if it could be as simple as weed when the moon is waning and plant when it is waxing, with a few simple rules in between (ie pest control, harvest, etc.), I could handle that. I always have a plenty of both to do!

This message was edited Jul 8, 2007 12:20 PM