[James Kilkelly, was GPI.]

Moon phase gardening, does waxing and waning affect plants?

Like most things in life, gardening goes in cycles. Just when gardening advancements seem to have reached their peak, a point where they become easily accessible and economically within the reach of all gardeners, things turn about three hundred and sixty degrees, and we return to the old ways. Take the current boom in organic gardening, I wonder what our great grandparents would say if they could see us now, getting back to basics with compost heaps instead of reaching for the artificial fertiliser?

Of course, the revival of organic gardening is to be applauded and embraced by all of us who wish to produce natural food brought to the table by good old-fashioned labour. Another extremely “old school” gardening practise, which a scattering of new growers have latched onto is lunar or moon phase gardening. For centuries, before man had even a basic understanding of plant life cycles, they had farmed according to the moon in the belief that something in the lunar light controlled the way in which their crops grew.

Some of the rules these early gardeners strictly adhered to included…
· For an abundant crop, plant your potatoes while the moon is dark (not at night, but during the day!).

· Plant your seeds within two days of a full moon to enable quick germination.

· To avoid failures do not plant anything on the day of the New Moon or Full Moon.

· Pull your weeds during the darkened new moon, to prevent them growing back.

Now, while these rules should be taken with a pinch of salt, especially the one about the weeds not growing back, there is at least a grain of truth in most of them. Just as the moon controls the tides, it is believed that it also influences the water tables within our soil and sap within our plants, this combined with moonlight is thought to steer growth rates.

It is not for me to say whether these theories are “lunacy”, what I will say however, is to test them within your own garden and see how you get on. They worked before; there is no reason why they should not again.

Tasks suggested during the period that the moon is gaining light.
This is from the New moon to full moon, a period described as the moon waxing.
· Repot your houseplants.

· Sow seeds and transplant vegetable crops that grow above ground, such as peas, beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

· Plant any fruit trees and bushes.

· Fertilise all plants.

· Plant annual bedding, herbs, shrubs and trees.

. Moon phases, waxing and waning, photo / pic / image.

Tasks suggested during the period that the moon is loosing light.
This is from the Full moon to new moon, a period described as the moon waning.
· Plant bulbs.

· Sow seeds or plant vegetable crops that grow below the ground, such as potatoes, turnips, onions carrots, beetroot etc.

· Carry out weeding, pruning and mulching of plants.

· Plant your herbaceous perennials.

Interested in having a look at the present moon phase for Ireland?
We now have it displayed on our weather page here....Current moon phase and weather report for Ireland

[medieval knievel]

i was at a talk by bob flowerdew in which he pointed out that timing can be crucial in gardening, but that people possibly mistakenly attributed success or failure to the moon.

[walltoall]

Moons phases Mar09 htttp://www.fishsniffer.com/moonphase/march09.html and the full moon is on 10th. My old grandpa always told me to have main crop potato seed in by Paddy's day. The equinox a week later is the real target but I respected his advice.

2009 should be auspicious as the moon wanes 10th to 28th. With Paddy's day on a Tuesday it looks like Monday 16th March is the date to do the deed. Or from 18th to 21st to spear the equinox. Anyone up for it and lets see how we are all doing fourteen weeks later?

Oh! For non-Irish brothers/sisters not in the loop, "Paddy's Day" is St. Patricks day 17th March, a bank holiday in Ireland in fact the only four-day bank holiday in the Irish calendar.

[Organicgrowingpains]

Hi Walltoall, I would be willing to give it a go as I have been reading up on this moon planting too. When I was young Good friday is the day I remember mentioned to have the seed potatoes in by?! I am also going to put in blight resistant varieties, log on to www.ipm.ie for advice and you can buy seed potatoes directly from them too. I found them through an article on this site.

[walltoall]

Only one thing wrong with the Good Friday marker. The date is more than a bit movable, being locked to Easter. The date for Easter Sunday is set as follows: "The Sunday following the first full moon following the Equinox. The vernal equinox can happen on 21st 22nd or even I believe 23rd March. At one extreme you could have a full moon on Sat. 22nd March (as it did this year) which is ok but at the other end of that scale you could have an appropriate full moon as late as Sun 19th April putting Good Friday about 24th April.

I think the Ag. Sc boys would have us get those seeds in at or before the equinox. But thanks for sharing. I have planted seed in Mid-May and got a good haulm of spuds at the end of September. Anyway! Good spudding in 2009.
WallToAll