I am experimenting this year by trying to plant by the moon, I have a book called ‘In Tune with the Moon – Living and growing with the Lunar Cycle’ by David Shaw. Published by Findhorn Press, ISBN 978-1-84409-128-7. Covers planting by the moon, when to harvest, prune, make compost, bee keeping, beer and cider making. There is an interesting section on making natural insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers and the best times to use them. The moon has an influence on everything as I found in the living chapter – did you know that cutting your hair on certain days can slow hair loss or shaving your legs during a waning moon results in slower regrowth? About half of the book is charts to find out when you should be doing what.
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27th April 2008
Pea – Kelvedon Wonder – seeds up on 4th May .
Broad Bean – Bunyards Exhibition – seeds up on 2nd May.
Runner Bean – Enorma – seeds up on 2nd May.
Runner Bean – Painted Lady. This is a very old variety that goes back to the 1860’s, they have pretty red and white flowers. Thanks for the seeds Tony, I planted all 40 of them, far too many for me so will distribute the excess around Ventnor. Seeds up on 3rd May.
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Sunday 20th April 2008
Carrots – Nantes 2Seeds up 26th April.
Onions – De Barletta. Seeds up 24th April – transplanted outside to raised bed on 5th May.
Leeks – De Carentan 2 – oops should have waited until Wednesday or Thursday to do these, will sow some more then and compare how they perform. Seeds up 24th April – transplanted outside to raised bed on 5th May.
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Saturday 12th April 2008
Lobelia – Seeds up 19th April
Mixed flowers – Seeds up 17th April
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Thursday 10th April 2008
Beetroot – Pronto (baby type). Seeds up 20th April, poor germination, very few seedlings came up.
Radishes – Sofia – Seeds through on 13th April – transplanted outside to raised bed on 28th April.
Turnips – White Globe. Seeds up 17th April – transplanted outside to raised bed on 28th April.
Carrots – Chantenay Red Cored 2 – Why, I have no idea, probably cheap. Seeds up 19th April, not doing as well as the Nantes that I sowed 10 days later.
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Monday 7th April 2008 –
Tomatoes – Gardener’s Delight – I always grow the small ones as we all like them best. Seeds through on 16th April.
Courgette – Zucchini F1 – I tried these last year and I did not think they were that good, will try to find some different ones to try as well. Seeds through on 17th April.
Runner Beans – Very small seeds that I saved from the year before last so not sure how well they will do. Only 2 have come up so far or else the slugs have got into the mini greenhouse – again!
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Friday 5th April 2008 : Finally started sowing some seeds, all of these were planted in old margarine tubs. I heated a skewer in the gas jet and used it to melt small drainage holes in the base of the tubs.
Lettuce – Salad Bowl (cut and come again type) I grew this in a hanging basket last year. Kept on kitchen window sill. Seeds through on 10th April. Transferred outside to hanging basket on 5th May.
All of these have been put in the mini plastic greenhouse on the top level of the garden.
Perpetual Spinach
Land cress – saved seeds from Ken. Seeds through on 15th April.
Curly Kale – Nero Di Toscana. Seeds through on 12th April – transplanted outside to raised bed on 28th April.
Parsley – Flat leaf. Woo Hoo – Seeds up 27th April, amazing I usually have terrible trouble with parsley. Perhaps it was the effect of planting them at the right phase of the moon.
Chard – Bright lights, supposed to have stems of purple, pink and orange. Seeds through on 13th April.
Sorrel – Sharp almost lemony flavour, love this mixed with lettuce, land cress and spinach, makes a lovely green salad. Seeds through on 13th April.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli – I was not actually supposed to plant this today according to the moon calender, it would be nice to say that it was a control planting to compare how long germination, plant strength compares to sowing on the correct day – no just brain dead. As I do use a lot of this I will try to plant some more on the next favourable day. Seeds through on 15th April.
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So… how are they all comparing to each other? Am considering buying the, ‘In tune’ book would be interesting to see if it works.
Peace
Moon Lion
Unfortunately I have not been able to do much in the way of comparisons as I would have liked. Where it is my first season in this garden and there was nowhere to grow anything, I have had a lot of work to do making raised beds, it would have been a lot quicker if there were not so many big stones and loads of glass in the soil. Doing this blog and being a single parent has not helped on the time front either.
I have had one lot of beans, another of broad beans and lettuce that has done abysmally that were all planted on the wrong days by accident. A lot of my veg that was sown on the correct days does seem to be more productive than other peoples who have not planted by the moon. Most of my seedings have been very strong and healthy, far more so than I can remember them being in the past, germination rates have been excellent too. My plant diary and garden page have fallen by the wayside due to lack of time.
In a few weeks I will have finished all the making of beds that it is possible to do hear although I do still have to build a log store and a small greenhouse so I will have more time after that to experiment more.
Ideally it would be good to sow three lots of everything, one on the proper day, one lot on a day for not that type of vegetable and another lot on one of the red days when you are not supposed to plant anything.
I am sure enough that there is something in this planting by the moon to splash out on the book again for next year, the rest of it is very interesting and helpful too like the charts for when to cut hair, make fertiliser, prune etc
I was hoping for some feedback from others doing it too, the Planting by the moon posts are very popular and read by a lot of people.
If buying a copy ‘The Book Depository’ is quite often a lot cheaper than Amazon and you don’t have to spend £15 to get free delivery.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk
Angie