moon planting

[Comfreyfan]

Poking you with a stick jimbo! Why was the Nick Kollerstrom book so bad (haven't read it - just curious)? I wouldn't 'highly recommend' RJ Harris's book either - he was a nice and well respected gardener, there's some really good stuff in it but it's very prescriptive and I don't like to be told exactly how to do something - give me the general idea and let me make my own mistakes!

There are as many ways of gardening as there are gardeners, if something interests you, start simply and give it a go. . .what's the worst that can happen

[zazen999]

Nick Kollerstrom is in holocaust denial, allegedly.

I used to swear by his moon diary book, but when I found the above out I copied my notes out of the books and threw the books away.

I use the link in my signature for the trials I am doing.

[Comfreyfan]

Won't be looking for his book then!

[Eyren]

The way it was explained to me it made perfect sense. The moon's gravitational pull affects all water on earth. As well as the seas, it also 'pulls' the water table higher in the soil - some plants/seeds appreciate different amounts of moisture beneath them when planted, so different times of the moon calendar will suit different types of plants.

Same here, Comfreyfan - lots of animals respond to the moon's cycle in some way, so why not plants? (The jury is still out on human psychology aka lunacy - one hypothesis is that men and women respond to different phases, so any studies that don't separate the results by sex won't see any influence).

I'm not sure about all the extra bits - planting in Aries or water signs or anything else, but planting by the moon cycles has been round for a very long time and I've had good results since I've been following it.

I agree that the astrological stuff does seem like mumbo-jumbo, but each to his own

If nothing else, it helps me to divide up my gardening jobs - at this time of year, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things that need doing, so it's nice to know I "need" to postpone potting up my tomatoes until next weekend!

[jimbojetset]

i'm deeply sceptical i have to say, but thought i'd do some trials

until i went nuts after getting back from the icy wastes of canada and have filled every available orifice with compost

Nick Cohen: When academics lose their power of reason | Comment is free | The Observer
in case anyone missed it
the little tw@ts descriptions of auschwitz are deeply offensive

eyren, i potted up some tomatoes yesterday was this (allegedly!) not the right day?
is it worth potting some up next weekend, as a bit of an experiment?

[Eyren]

until i went nuts after getting back from the icy wastes of canada and have filled every available orifice with compost

eyren, i potted up some tomatoes yesterday was this (allegedly!) not the right day?
is it worth potting some up next weekend, as a bit of an experiment?

Apparently any time whilst the moon is waxing is OK for leaves, fruits and flowers, though the first week is better for leaves and the second for flowers and fruit. I'm sure your tomatoes will be fine

[jimbojetset]

ha! i thought i'd get a response to that!
i'm just going to plant willy nilly i reckon, but what i thought would be a good plan would be to keep all the dates, phase of the moon and wot not
then i'll check back when i'm pulling in the crops
that way i won't bias anything
would anyone be able to give me old moon dates from around this period in time when it comes to harvest?
cheers!
x

[Comfreyfan]

I only worry about what's going into the ground - anything in pots, growbags etc won't get any benefit from the water table anyway - so I can pot on my seedlings whenever I want!

[King Carrot]

I don't get the updates done to the gardeners calendar. So often its now contradictory between the three methods to follow I wonder if there is any point. Which one do most folk use synodic, biodynamic or just look at the leaf/fruit/root symbols at the top?

I agree, they changed it a while back and now and it’s often contradictory between the methods. I just follow the leaf, carrot, fruit symbol etc. which is the biodynamic system.

Using the symbols system above and with the same batches of seed, I have been getting, faster germination times this year compared to the last few years with the same batches, when I just did things cos it was the right time for me, so I'm impressed with those results so far.

I’ve also got the R J Harris Moon gardening book and although I’ve taken a few methods and ideas from it, I find it very very regimented and hard going, not my cup of tea really. Well worth a read as far as I'm concerned.