lunar planting

[lored]

For all of you that like to get an early start, here is the lunar planting for February and March:

www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/

February 2013
7th-8th Any Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Do Well.
9th-11th Barren Days. Fine For Clearing, Plowing, Fertilizing And Killing Plant Pests.
12th-13th Plant Peppers, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, And Other Aboveground Crops In Southern Florida, California, And Texas. Extra Good For Cucumbers, Peas, Cantaloupes, And Other Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants.
14th-15th Seeds Planted Now Will Grow Poorly And Yield Little.
16th-18th Fine For Planting Beans, Peppers, Cucumbers, Melons, And Other Aboveground Crops Where Climate Is Suitable.
19th-20th Any Seed Planted Now Will Tend To Rot.
21st-22nd Fine For Planting Beans, Tomatoes, Corn, Cotton, Cucumbers, Peppers, Melons, And Other Aboveground Crops Where Climate Allows. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens.
23rd-26th Clear Ground, Turn Sod. Kill Plant Pests.
27th-28th Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops. Fine For Sowing Grains, Hay, And Forage Crops. Plant Flowers.


March 2013
1st-2nd Excellent Time For Planting Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now And For Starting Seedbeds. Good Days For Transplanting.
3rd-5th Poor Planting Days.
6th-7th Any Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Do Well.
8th-10th A Barren Period, Best Suited For Killing Pests. Do Plowing And Cultivating.
11th-12th Good Days For Planting Aboveground Crops. Fine For Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants.
13th-15th Cultivate And Spray, Do General Farm Work, But No Planting.
16th-17th Favorable For Planting Crops Bearing Yield Above The Ground.
18th-19th Seeds Planted Now Tend To Rot In The Ground.
20th-22nd Best Planting Days For Aboveground Crops, Especially Peas, Beans, Cucumbers And Squash Where Climate Is Suitable. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens.
23rd-26th A Most Barren Period, Best For Killing Plant Pests Or Doing Chores Around The Farm.
27th-28th Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops, Fine For Sowing Hay, Fodder Crops, And Grains. Plant Flowers.
29th-30th Excellent Time For Planting Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now And For Starting Seedbeds. Good Days For Transplanting.
31st Poor Planting Day.

LoreD

[Good Mind Seeds]

thanks for posting LoreD. i wonder what zone this is intended for, or if its for all. do you know anything about the history of the lunar gardening calendar? i would like to know more.

[lored]

It just depends when you want to start your plants. In Texas and Southern California you would be starting tomato plants in January and February. I won't be starting my tomatoes until March. I am starting a few eggplants and peppers in February so that I can have some nice big plants to put in the garden in May. My eggplants were just starting to produce when they told me to clean out my community garden in October.

The lunar planting cycle is the same, warmer zones start earlier and cooler start later.

LoreD

[lored]

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0710_030710_moongarden.html

"More gardeners today are turning to the moon for sage advice on the best time to plant, prune, weed, and harvest. The practice, known as moon or lunar gardening, is cultivating a cult following.

"Lunar gardening is the oldest form of gardening known to man," said RJ Harris, the head gardener at a private estate near Cornwall, England, and author of a book on the subject.

The practice centers on the moon's gravitational effect on the flow of moisture in soil and plants and, to a lesser degree, the effect of moonlight on seed germination.

Harris has gardened in tune with the lunar cycle since the 1950s, a practice he learned from his father and grandfather.

"Ever since prehistoric times, long before man ever had a watch on his wrist or a calendar on his wall, everything was governed by the phases of the moon," said Harris.

He notes that the moon not only controls ocean tides but influences the groundwater tables beneath our feet. Understanding the latter effect, and timing gardening chores accordingly, is the basis of moon gardening.

Harris gives the example that the best time to turn over a garden is during the last quarter of the moon because that is when the water table has dropped to its lowest point. "It means less moisture is within the soil. It is far easier to turn soil over when there is less moisture in it," he said.

Moon Boom

Seeking to preserve knowledge about moon-gardening techniques before they were eclipsed entirely by modern gardening practices, Harris wrote RJ Harris' Moon Gardening with the help of journalist Will Summers.

But since the book's September 2002 publication, Harris said he learned he need not have worried.

Harris says he has heard from people in New Zealand, Austria, Germany, and the United States who use the lunar cycle as a guide for their gardening chores. And the Internet is sprouting with Web sites dedicated to the practice.

On her Web site Gardening by the Moon.com (www.gardeningbythemoon.com), Caren Catterall writes, "Plants respond to the same gravitational pull of tides that affect the oceans, which alternately stimulates root and leaf growth. Seeds sprout more quickly, plants grow vigorously and at an optimum rate, harvests are larger and they don't go to seed as fast."

LoreD