I have a question for all of you: Do the moon phases REALLY influence crops? And, is there a better time to plant or start seedlings (i.e. waxing March Moon in Taurus, and so on)? Some people insist that there actually is a correlation between moon and veggies' growth, and with the help of the Farmer's Almanac I myself tried to match crops with moon phases, but I couldn't detect ANY significant difference.
Although I personally have never followed moon plantings, my grandfather did. He swore by it. He went by the 'Farmers Almanac'.
Then there was an elderly gentlemen I used to talk to on-line who used this method as well. He was kind enough to e-mail me on certain days that were good for planting, weeding, fertilizing, etc. He'd been gardening via the moon for over 40 years. And he swore that his gardens were much more healthier, vigorous, etc. than before he used the moon.
BTW......he also used the 'Farmers Almanac as a a guide.' I still have yet to try it.
There's alot of people who shrug this off as nonsense. And I can't say either way whether it really works or not.......But I do know this...If the moon can affect the tides in the ocean etc, it would certainly be plausible that it affects the amount of water in the soil. As well as the plants. And how much water the plants may take in. In other words it doe smake sense to me.
I try to plant by the moon, but depending on the weather and my impatience to get things started I sometimes ignore the moon and just plant. The plants do seem to do better when the moon is right. I also use the farmers' almanac as a guide.
I am interested too. My Dad always followed the moon cycles but unfortunately he never taught me anything about gardening. I was always sickly & had to rest when other kids orked & played.
Rudolph Steiner was an Austrian scientist and educator who lived at the end of the 19th century and into the early twentieth. He also founded the Waldorf School system and anthroposophical medicine. He did many experiments on plants that were diligently and meticulously recorded. He claimed and proved that the timing of planting and harvesting was directly related to the celestial bodies and other things (he was as great companion planter as well) and that he managed to get significantly higher yields from his gardens than randomly planted gardens. A search of the internet found more than 20,000 sites devoted to Steiner's methods but the best site was:
Anthroposophical Society in America: The many aspects of anthroposophy: Waldorf Education, Rudolf Steiner, Biodynamic agriculture, Eurythmy, Anthroposophical Medicine, calendar of events, member information, and plenty more. Check it out... http://www.anthroposophy.org/
About the same time as Steiner, biodynamic planting and agriculture was being explored and they too found that phases of the celestial bodies affected the planting of crops significantly. You might want to search the web for "biodynamic gardening". There were just too many to list the best ones.
About the same time, scientists started extoling the virtues of a new way of growing things that quickly evolved into the gardening we see today except that most of us only do part of it. It was called 'biodynamic, French intensive, raised bed gardening' which covered just about everything. Several great books have been produced on that subject as well.
Hopes this helps.
Bruce
Posts: 0 | Location: Havelock, Ontario, Canada Zone 4b | Registered: March 12, 2004
Cocobee, I am in Marysville, zip 95901. I am about an hour drive north of Sacramento. There is a little tip of zone 14 that sticks north/east of Sacramento & it catches me.
<Anonymous>
Posted
One of the many great helpers here gave a web sight for me to look up my sunset zone but I don't remember what it was. If I want to remember anything, I have to write & post it on my bulletin board or I will either forget it or misplace it.
