PLanting by signs

I certainly believe the moon influences germination and other aspects of a plant's lifecycle. But, as with many things I believe in, it's the interpretations and rules people make based on this idea that give me pause. I've read just about everything I can on this subject: Jeavons, Foxfire, Gardening By the Moon, the Almanac, and botany studies. There's not a lot of agreement when it gets to specifics, so I think keeping it simple is a good idea.

You're right Zeppy.

Science never can confirm the mystical. So it always confronts it. Though this is science just nobody does the study. No money in it.

Farmers Almanac- Farm and Garden Bulletin, March 2006

23-24 Good days for killing weeds, briars and other plant pests. Poor for planting.

** 25 & 26 Plant seeds of peppers, tomatoes and other aboveground crops. Extra good for cucumbers, peas, canteloupes and other **vine** crops.

27-28-29 A poor time to plant.

** 30-31 Fine for planting beans, peppers, cucumbers, melons and other aboveground crops where climate is suitable.
**
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/gardening/gardening.html

Time to get movin'

~* Robin

You know that Poor Richard was Ben Franklin and I feel he was one of the most observant thinkers ever on this planet. You should read the book by Walter Issacson "Ben Franklin". The man was a genius. So maybe it is science or maybe not but it is definetly reproducable.

Yeah....buddy!! *LOL* I planted tomatoes today, and some various flowering annuals...waaaay to early for the melons and such! They'd be 10' long before I could get them in the garden *chuckling at the visual of my kitchen covered in melon and cuke vines*

Edit: What a dork! I am so far out of needing to know the date most of the time that I was 2 days off! *LOL* I thought I was sowing (indoor) on the 25th!! Even entered that date in my journal! I'll have to be extra careful when planting them out!

"27-28-29 A poor time to plant." A couple days off?! NOT!! Diggin beds, weeding, and sifting compost!



This message was edited Mar 24, 2006 8:30 PM

I'm with you, soferdig! There have been a few "scientific" studies that prove out Moon gardening...you'll find them referenced in "Astrological Gardening" by Louise Riotte.

Sceptics will, of course find fault with them, too....*s* But Quantum Physics exlains alot of things that "Physics" never could..*s* And the natural world id a wonder and a mystery, for sure!

And, Magpye...all I can say is

"YOU ROCK!!!"

" What'd I do? .. What'd I do ? "

I throw'd nuthin' .. it twernt my rock, I tell ya!! .. LOL

(fill me in .. ) afore I fall asleep ..

- Magpye

Thank you Nature watcher. I don't buy the almanac anymore, but I'm ready to get going on tomatoes and peppers. Sunday sounds like a plan

Two against one Magpye. You usually make me smile.

Robin,

You got your March and April columns mixed up. Just letting you know. Had me confused because I try to plant by the almanac and I could have sworn today and tomorrow were good days.

Kim

Sunday was a good day. I planted peas, spinich, turnips and onion sets. This morn it was supposed to rain, so I cut up those soft, sprouted, red potatoes, mixed up some peaty dirt and planted them. It started sprinkling by 9:00am and is still at it. Opportunity knocked and I walked thru the door and into the garden!

Egad, everything that I had copied & pasted into a note/text file for the month of March 2006 is all wrong!

Thanks Kim; I'll keep track of those seeds then, to let everyone know if it's true about planting on the wrong days or not: March 25&26, 2006; a barren period. best suited for killing pests. do plowing and cultivating.

Oh well, keeping the fingers crossed!

Look what I found at another web almanac, from Yankee Publishing:

Outdoor Planting Table: http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable.php

~* Robin

Having worked in human-support services of various kinds, I can certainly swear the Full moon and the New moon bring out different kinds!

I actually did a planting test years ago, back in Minnesota at the bottom of winter, when one wants something green SOON, please - I took 5 seeds of a friend's heirloom morning glory, scarified and soaked them overnight and planted at 4 phases of the moon (signs by element can play a part if you follow the old wives tales more closely).

The dark of the moon seeds: 2 out of 5 sprouted, and were spindly with small leaves.
The waxing moon (also a water moon if I remember right), all five sprouted, and had thick stems, and a lot of quick lush growth.
The Full moon seeds, all five sprouted, and also had thick stems and quick, full growth.
Waning moon seeds: 4 out of 5 sprouted, and were spindly, with fewer smaller leaves than the waxing moon or full moon planted seeds.

They all set flowers and bloomed for the first time at the following full moon! More and stronger, larger, longer-lasting blooms on the waxing and full moon sets.

All the plants were grown in the same part of our upper (office) middle room, with a southern window that had an insulating layer of 3M clear, taped and heatshrunk plastic over it (no cold blasts of wind through the windowsills, but that's another $400 off that year's heating season bill story).

So - sure, I plant seeds for veggies and flowers by the phases, and if (ha!) there's time I think and check to see what sign it's in.

Those old-wives wouldn't pass along tales so similar, from such diverging cultures, if what they were noticing didn't make sense, for whatever reason. Tides and slight gravitational pull differences, plus their impact on the local water table, all make sense to me.

What a great conversation! I'm new, nicetameetcha --

-Ruth Temple
Redwood City, CA

Right backatcha, Ruth. A mitey big ol 'hearty' welcome to DG .. to ya !!

There's 'truff' to a good many of 'em old wives tales, and definitely so with the astrological signs!!

- Magpye

Edited: to state my curiousity .. as to where the dickens Huffy1 has gotten off to. There's not been a recent post in a coons age. .. hee


This message was edited Mar 31, 2006 7:50 PM

RuthTemple, that is really interesting. You're right about old wives tales. I always that "they wouldn't say it if it wasn't true.'' I'm glad you shared that with us. Maybe those of us that believe most of the planting rules will think more seriously about it. I do believe in digging the hole, and whether there will be more dirt left or less. I'm going to have to pick an almanac up. Haven't used one in years. I'm fairly new too. Welcome! And I hope to meet you on many threads!

Well-Come and Well Met, Ru! And Billyp.
Newish here, myself...but LOVIN' DG! Great lil experiment, Ru. TY for sharing it with us. Ha! I'm a bit lost right now in the Quantum Universe, (popping in and out and all that) and I'm wondering.... Going to check my plantingjournals for the out of phase planting I did earlier in the month and keep a close eye...

Hi desert -witch. I used to buy The Farmers Almanac religiously. I tried to plant by it, cut my hair by it, etc. then it got expensive and I quit buying it. Now I'm getting interested again. I was disappointed when they quit predicting the weather with the rhyme down the side of the page. I think they started that again, but it just didn't seem the same. We were to get rain Monday, so I just got out and planted using the other "bible,'' Crocketts Victory Garden. It rained and rained again. I should have a garden on the way!

Thanks for the kind welcome, folks!

Soferdig, old Poor Richard / Ben Franklin's own autobiography is also a great read - and available as a free etext from the Gutenberg Project.

It worked again for this spring's tomato seeds, some being older seeds saved and gifted from a friend, I planted 5 seeds in each 2" cell at the full moon late February, and they ALL came jumping up!

What is the Gutenberg Project? Some free text download of books. I'm going to google it. thank you. I love reading about the lives of the people were placed here to format this (used to be) great country. I'm confused now if it is.

Project Gutenberg is the oldest volunteer project for making public domain books available as machine-readable (now we'd just say online) texts. They've been at it since 1972 (yes seventy-two), and you can read, and you can proofread if you want to help it along, after a day in the garden - enjoy!

http://www.gutenberg.org/

BenF's own writings are very illuminating. The best biographies are original texts. I'm currently reading Jefferson's garden journal. Me geek.

I enjoyed Washingtons memoirs at valley forge. What a man with deep feelings. John Wayne changed the view of what we expect men to be like. Even the womanizer Ben Franklin was warm and sensitive.

Right, I need to add the Washington memoirs to my to-read list... Typical that a fictional character does more to shape popular culture than the historical one.

Re: planting by the signs. I'm using the almanac this year, but I confess I am doing it more for the form than the results. Lazy perfectionists benefit from external restrictions, or we either go crazy trying to weed, fertilize, and plant on the same day or just give up.

Though it is always a good idea to take a whole day just to weed even if the sign is off. We (me and DW) always pull weeds when we walk in the garden and talk at night good time to see the weeds.

Zeppy & Soferdig, you both have time to read anything else other than Gardening Books & plant catalogs?

Aha..Ha, ha!!

soferdig - yeah that's what I used to do to look for toll $$ when the kids were little!

~* Robin

I had a spectacular day today and shredded all my spring clean up in 3 hours instead of 2 days with my other shredder. It was a beautiful day with sun, snow, rain, and beautiful sunset. Ahhh to be back in the garden. I only read gardening books when I goof up most of gardening is common sense and I only buy plants on impulse at the nurseries. never out of a catalog. Trust issues I guess. Yes I read a lot mostly non-fiction and the last few years has been a lot of history.

Zeppy, what is the title of Jefferson's gardening journal book? Love to read it. I visited Monticello a few years back in early May and loved it. Now that's a garden! But more then one could possibly keep up by oneself.
I hope to get up to Mount Vernon for a visit one of these years. Good old George!

Just "Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book," edited by Betts (I think). Fun reading.

Thanks, I'll see if the library can get it for me.

Magpie, I'm here been working some long hours and 7 day weeks. I hope there's no truth in there's no rest for the wicked. If there is I got gyped somewheres
Gardens looking good, NEED RAIN!

Ahhhh, there ya be, Huffy1 ...
Eeegadders!! Some mitey loooong hours, indeed ...

I shall hope that perhaps you're paying a mortgage off 3 times faster .. or, saving for the down payment on a home .. or, investing in (or, paying for) your children's college educations .. or, putting as much is allowed into your IRA!! (ha! .. I know, I know .. tis none of my dadblasted bizniss anyway!) Just go easy on yourself sometimes - so you'll be around long enuff to reap the benefits of workin' so long & hard .. (hee)

I'd wondered if you'd given up the ghost or crawled under a rock to hide from all of us and our antics .. LoL .. ( .. Jes luvinly teasin' ya, Huffy1 .. )

I can only vouch for myself. I'm apparently still considered wicked by some, but I've been resting (somewhat) .. since about '96.
If there's any consolation that I may could offer; there is rest for the weary, Huf .. and I think you would easily qualify, with such effort & fortitude.

Thrilled to read that you've gotten your garden in and it's goin' well .. Yep, we too, could use a few good drops of moisture.

Glad to see that you've not abandoned your thread .. or, 'us'.

((huggs))

- Magpye

the moon has quite a pull, as the tides do show, the effect on the soil is significant.Those who lived close to the earth and observed carefully could see changes according to the moon and developed their customs accordingly. One of the formost soil science researchers has discovered that the effect diminishes as the carbon content of the soil increases. So i strive to get all the humate in the soil i can and kind of ignore what the moon says. (the humate regulates all soil processes and makes it all work better anyway, so the more the better.)