Planting by the Moon

Gorgeous harvest moon rise tonight. Made me wonder about planting by the light of the moon. I must be bored because I googled it and found all kinds of interesting stuff. Has anyone read Ed Hume's book on the subject?

Inguiring minds want to know....
carol

From http://www.plantea.com/planting-moon-phases.htm
Garden chores to do by the light of the moon
(Increasing Light -- New to full moon):
Repot and groom houseplants
Sow seeds of plants that grow above ground
Fertilize
Graft fruit trees
Plant evergreen and deciduous trees

Garden chores to do by the dark of the moon
(Decreasing Light -- Full to dark of the moon):
Plant bulbs
Plant crops that grow below the ground, such as potatoes, carrots
Cultivate weeds
Plant biennials and perennials because they need strong roots
Eliminate slugs
Prune shrubs

More info here.
http://www.humeseeds.com/mbdates.htm


This message was edited Oct 8, 2006 8:37 PM

Well, when we lived in Italy our landlord and lady always praised us for kepping the place so well..they loved me keeping the yard..especially since most Italians are such avid gardners..but..there's one thing that he would always insist on doing..cutting the rose bushes back..he said he did it by the moon..so there you go..maybe there's something to this and they were always beautiful..of course he would always bring compost and manure and put it around them too.

Carolyn

Oh carolyn living in Italy sounds divine. I'd love to see pictures of your Italien garden. How sweet that he loved the rosebushes that way.

I just had to move a couple old rose bushes that had been planted in the shade when we got the place. Had to make room for the EEs I got from the generous Loretta and Butterfly Chaser. Anyway I cut them way back and will baby them for a bit. Hope they don't think its spring. I need an old italien over here! lol

carol

edited due to early alzheimers :-|

This message was edited Oct 9, 2006 1:03 PM

Beauituf picture! This past weekend the moon lighted everything so well I could have taken a walk by moonlight and seen perfectly. I like to prune by the moon but have to do it when there is time. Cultivate weeds....those do great all by themselves. lol

oops...sorry ...from Loretta and NA. I swear my mind is going! I am too young for Oldtimers! lol

Actually they were not that old..don't now how old you are..but when we were in Italy a few yrs. back I was in my 40's and they probabaly weren't much older if any..their chichen were younger, but they tend to have children at an older age..maybe smarter than us..LOL..all the Italians in the little villages have their flowers and veggies...they really appreciate life and have family values..it's a shame that more Americans can't be like Europeans..we are tooo spoiled.

Carolyn

hmmmm......not sure DH will let me have a young italien. Կ~ If he prunes his roses by the light of the moon, I will too. Lord knows they need something, though they are doing so much better than when we moved here.

I've been to Holland, France and Monaco.....loved all the gardens, but don't recall seeing anyone tending them. And Guatamala, where all the gardens within the fancy American hotels were stunning but had to be escorted by armed guard anywhere else, so no garden tours.

carol

Oh, you can't get the feel by visiting..you have to live with them..of course in Monaco..everyone is RICH..they wash the park where they walk the dogs down several times a day..see many cars...they have helicopter pads as transportation...cars you see mostly are down in Monte Carlo..just think about it and are Bentleys or Rolls and such..these are not people who experience real life..we lived in an area of little villages..city maybe 12 mi..train ride to Venice 1 hr...but grape vineyards everywhere..under the MTS. an hr. to the mts. or the sea..the best of both worlds..strange to work in your yard in the spring and see snow capped mts..not many hrs. from Austria..now that a beautiful country and they love their gardens. Yes, we visited many beautiful formal gardens in different countries..but my favorite times were to just take walks where the real people lived. I could go on forever....miss it everyday.
Carolyn

Carolyn, thanks for that. It was very informative. I've never been to Europe, but Singapore has excellent gardens, etc. I really enjoyed my time there, and in Sydney, Australia went to the botanic garden. It's really close to the ocean. We spent some time there and it was wonderful!

Wouldn't a world garden tour be nice? Hope to get to the gardens of Australia and New Zealand someday. But do they garden by moonlight? lol

Probably, one way or the other :)

Goodness the Midsouth forum is hopping. I can barely keep up with the posts. A world garden tour would be so much fun with a group of gardening buddies.

Loretta

I'm gain. Could be add England, France & Italy to the list.

Jeri

Spain, too!

Well, we could do like the son and a friend did one summer while we were living there..they came over with Euro Rail Pass in hand and bummed around Europe for a month and still didn't see all they wanted to..but that was when he was an architect student, so we would be looking at completely different things..we could probably get an experience of a lifetime and maybe a little culture on the side..LOL..I have been known to be a pretty good tour guide..I could sure do Italy and some other places. I don't think I have to renew my passport for another couple of yrs.

Carolyn

Mmmm, Carol, don't go to New Zealand without me....

I was lucky, I did Spain (Barcelona), southern France (really want to go and see Nice - only drove by...) and Italy with a Landscape Architecture class... pretty cool stuff. I'd live in Barcelona any day, serious. Any place that has nap time all over the city (many shops, etc. are closed between 2-4) is the place for me. It was so beautiful.... (*sigh*)

>pagancat, looking dreamily out her rainy window...

lol...ok ladies...lets one of us win the lottery and do the tour.

They do the close down time in Italy after lunch also..most of the places.some of the shops in large cities and more touristy places..i.e. Rome don't close all their shops..the little man at the local hardware store where we lived referred to it as Spagetti Time..of cours with the large meals they eat..they need a rest afterward..well maybe not large, but many courses..a dinner in Italy can last for Hrs.

Carolyn

I found it funny that they close here in my little town for lunch. Can't go to the post office between 11:45 and 1 pm and from 12-2 the town trash collection is closed. And THAT was another thing that I found hard to get used to...you mean I have to put garbage in my car! You mean you don't come and get it? lol My FL girlfriends were horrified but I've gotten used to it. I kinda like the little attendant that always has such a big smile when I bring him alum cans in a seperate bag.

Back to Europe: My girlfriend (ex Patriot in Holland) and I flew to the french riviera and rented a car an an apartment for a week...Nice, Cannes, St Tropez, MonteCarlo...we went everywhere and loved every second. Surprising how much french I'd remembered from high school. She nearly fell over when I asked a grocery clerk "How much is that chicken in the window?" rofl

Makes you wanna start humming the tune....

Okay, more small town shocks - many places here close up for Weds afternoon, or don't open at all. I had never heard of such a thing before.

Yeah, kinda got me to humming, too!

Carol what you said made me think about Singapore. When you walk down the streets, you pass restaurants that have chickens, ducks, etc., hanging in the window by their head. When you go in to eat, they'll take one of them down and fix your lunch. It was hard for me to stomach that, but I ate anyway. I love to eat :) It was culture shock. You know, we all are so much alike, but our cultures are so different! Just another thing for me to learn and experience about this great big world and my life in it!

That must have been a bit hard to get used to but I imagine living in Singapore was one of the most facinating times of your life. I think too often we get too comfortable in our own little piece of the earth.

Carol
"If you truly love nature you'll find beauty everywhere!" - Van Gogh

Don't let me mislead you. I've been there two times, each for a week. And yes, I'd go back in a heartbeat! But it's a Llllooooonnnngggggg trip, even by air, since it's on the "other side" of the world.