Kitchen Garden Forum

This month we have the topic of 'moon gardening' in our over the garden fence feature and we'd love to know your views.

Is this something you've tried and would recommend to others? Maybe you tried it and it didn't work. Or maybe the idea just seems so unlikely that you can't believe it could possibly work? On the other hand the moon governs the tides so why not the growth of our plants?

Let us have your views and we'll use as many as we can in the feature coming up in the April issue.

Wishing you all a great gardening year ahead.

Plenty of views already (in anticipation of your request?).

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10347

Thanks Allan - great minds think alike!

Well both plants and us are mostly water, and if you look at the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto it seems lots of things affect water and it has memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAvzsjcBtx8
i always keep an open mind and have not had time to trial this, but if i did i would plant half by the moon and half at the worst time and check results, it would be an interesting experiment for the magazine to do with some trial seeds then request they send in their results, that way it would not just be based on one opinion

I have, in busy season, occasionally found myself gardening by moonlight, but that's as far as it goes !

An open mind is a good thing, but a gatekeeper in the form of critical appraisal is a good idea. A quick Google shows that Dr Emoto is no scientist, but a doctor of alternative medicine, who has been known to peddle extremely expensive bottles of water. Hmm.

That the moon exerts an effect on the oceans is an indisputable scientific fact.

That the moon can affect the way seeds germinate and plants grow seems unlikely and ultimately unprovable by scientific methods.

That growth is affected by a nearby celestial body held in orbit around the earth by the earth's gravitational field as it "passes through" constellations vast numbers of light years distant (for that is what "lunar planting" is based on) is, at best, pseudo science and a harmless occupation for the mystically minded, at worst a money spinner for quacks and charlatans.

The growth of plants is affected by the sun and the weather. Learn to garden in the earth and leave the moon and stars to those with too much time on their hands

I once had a bash at sowing according to a lunar calendar, but it was hopeless. Mostly, on the days it recommended sowing it rained, or it was cold for days after, or other jobs were more pressing. It's the sun we ought to be keeping in step with, and we do, with the seasons. After all, it's sunlight that's used for plant growth, not moonlight.
Reach for the stars, but keep your feet on the ground.

You've got to remember the planets also exert a powerful pull. When they are in perfect alignment they affect the tide by almost half a millimetre!

Syzygy! Run to the hills! (Or break out the Scrabble.)

If you want to try Gardening by the Moon, or lunacy as I call it, you might be interested in this handy tip.
Plant Cauliflower St. George and keep dragons off your plot, works for me!

Below is a copy of the advice for today - 26 January 2012 - from a web guide to lunar planting. Spot the obvious nonsensical advice - no relevance to real gardening whatsoever!

Date: 26 January 2012
Aquarius
Waxing crescent

Synodic:
Sow leafy vegetables and annuals that produce above ground. Lettuce, Spinach, Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Sprouts, Sweetcorn, Cucumber. Grains are also good to plant now. This is not a good time to pick vegetables if they are to be stored.

Biodynamic:
Moon in Aquarius: This is a Air sign. This is a good time to sow Flowering plants like Broccoli, but it would not be a good time to sow Rooting plants like Garlic, Horseradish, Jerusalem Artichokes, Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions,

Sidereal:
Moon in Aquarius: Dry and barren. Good time for garden maintenance.

Three months early I reckon.

It's gardening as a belief or spiritual system, nothing to do with actually growing plants. If people want to do it, its up to them, but I'd ignore it myself.

Speak for yourself, but I for one am very glad that I sowed my horseradish seed today. I traded them in for a cow. I get all my manure from the unicorn farm down the road. With the moon in Aquarius, there's sure to be a run on pixie dust, what with Capricorn being in the descendant and all.

The question is: Is planting by the moon Lunacy?
JB.