Gardening by the Moon and Zodiac
By Vanessa Richins
Gardeners have many ways to decide when they want to plant their vegetables.
An article I recently read from the Lawrence Journal-World talks about, “Gardening through the moon’s phases”.
Gardening by the moon is nothing new. “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” has printed specific dates for the different phrases of the moon for years. You can get the moon dates for your area on their website.
There are four phases of the moon - new moon, first quarter, full moon, and fourth quarter. These happen over the course of 28 days. The first two are called waxing and the last two are called waning.
“When the moon is waxing, you plant above-ground crops. In the first quarter, plant leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, which have their seeds outside the plant. In the second quarter, plant vining crops that produce seeds inside the fruit, including cucumbers, melons and gourds. Root vegetables, including potatoes and carrots, are planted in the third quarter, when the moon is waning.”
The article also mentions the related idea of gardening by the zodiac. Astrology is based on the positions of the stars and planets. Ancient astrologers noted when the moon was under the different signs and suggested that the most fertile signs were Cancer, Taurus, Scorpio and Pisces. Gardeners are advised to do their planting during these times.
It’s too late in my area this year (Zone 10 - according to the Almanac’s chart I should have done much of my planting in March) to fully try gardening by the moon, but I will experiment with it next year.
Have you ever tried gardening by the moon?
April 24th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I have never read one of these but have always wanted too
April 24th, 2009 at 7:22 am
I love to watch to moon and stars good info
April 26th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
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May 1st, 2009 at 8:22 am
[...] Vanessa talks about gardening by the moon and zodiac. [...]
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 am
Interesting theory.I like idea of gardening by the zodiac.