Moon Phase Gardening
Contrary to populare belief, this is by no means, a 'new age' concept. Moon Phase Gardening has been successfully used for many hundreds of years by our forefathers who used the moon as their agricultural planting guide.
Let's face it, besides a lot of them being illiterate, there probably wouldn't have been an abundance of gardening manuals around, even if they could read them!
The basic principles are:
WAXING MOON - During the New Moon & First Quarter Phases
The moon is increasing in light
NEW MOON:
Best time to plant or sow: Leafy Annuals (grown for eating stems & leaves of the plant ie. parsley, basil, lettuce etc.) Flowering Annuals, Melons & Grains.
FIRST QUARTER MOON:
Best time to plant or sow: Fruiting Annuals (grown for eating the fruit or seeds of the plant ie. capsicum, tomato, chillies etc.) Flowering Annuals, Melons & Grains.
WANING MOON - During the Full Moon & Last Quarter Phases
The moon is decreasing in light
FULL MOON:
Best time to plant or sow: Root crops such as potatoes, carrots etc. & Perennials (ie. plants that live longer than 2 years).
LAST QUARTER MOON:
No sowing or planting during this phase, it is time for the plants to rest.
*Note: It is recommended NOT to sow or plant 12 hours before or after a moon phase change.
Moon Planting Guide
For a much more detailed description and some great tips on moon phase gardening, visit the Traditional Moon Planting post on the Aussie Organic Gardening Blog.
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| Tues 13th, day 11 - My newly sown radishes (middle) |
I sowed these radish seeds on Friday 2 Nov 2012, in the waning moon phase and they had sprouted and were about 1cm tall by Mon 5th Nov!! That's 3 days.. I've never had them come up that quickly!
It may not be all that impressive to some of you.. but usually my radishes are only just barely sprouting after about 10 days. I like to think the moon had something to do with the rapid growth they had ;)
Moon Phase Calendar
The Moon Connection Website has a great Moon Phase Calendar. Don't forget to change the view so you can see the moon phases in your own hemisphere.
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