Gardening by the moon: Is it a myth?

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T
here is no argument that the moon has an effect on earth. Tides are controlled by the gravitational pulls of the moon, animals do weird things during specific phases (namely a full moon) and it also influences our weather. But does it really affect the way we garden?

I remember, many moons ago (pardon the pun), when I was into fishing in a big way. I would purchase the Fishing Almanac which contained the tide charts and the best, and worst, fishing times. These were all calculated based on the specific phase of the moon at the time. While it wasn't always accurate there was enough "coincidence" to believe that possibly this moon theory wasn't just a myth.

Gardening by the moon is not a new idea and has been practiced longer than anyone can remember. However, its resurgence has come on the piggy-back of the interest in organic gardening. Gardeners are looking for ways to be more 'in-tune' with the environment and lunar gardening appears to be such a way.

The idea with moon planting is that the practice is based on the moon's gravitational pull on the earth's moisture thus either aiding plant growth or inhibiting it. Therefore, a gardener should plant above-ground crops during the waxing cycle and below-ground crops during the waning phase. Other gardening chores are the based on which part of the zodiac the moon is in and could suggest times for planting and transplanting, tilling the soil and sowing seeds.

While there has never been any clinical experiment to prove or disprove the theory, there are many gardeners who swear by the practice and follow it religiously.

Michael Jawson, a researcher at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland said,

The reported benefits of moon-gardening practices are most likely indirect effects that stem from gardener's attentive care. The indirect effect could be one simply of overall better management because of being careful to do good practices at more optimum times in relation to plant growth cycles.

So whether you believe it is or isn't a myth, gardening by the moon certainly isn't a waste of time. In fact, you may even find your garden rewards you for the practice.

Posted by Stuart on July 5, 2006 5:12 AM | Permalink | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:

Stuart Robinson

Busselton, Western Australia

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Comments

I haven't followed the lunar calendar for planting but Richard used to plant vegetables using that method, and swears that the seeds germinated faster and more evenly than when planted on 'other' days.

Posted by: Alice | July 5, 2006 3:52 PM

So when you say "Richard used to..." does that mean he doesn't anymore? If this is the case what were his reasons a) for using the lunar cycles in the first place, and b) for stopping this practice?

Posted by: Stu | July 5, 2006 6:45 PM

There is a gardener in Tasmania who is keeping a blog on moon gardening, thought you might be interested in reading it
http://cosmicgardening.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Erica | July 9, 2006 4:07 PM

To answer your questions, Stuart, firstly Richard tried planting by the moon as an interesting experiment; secondly, he's too busy doing other things like developing the rest of our 'desert' to plant any seeds now. He also began planting seeds more in punnets than straight into the ground, and the magnetic forces are probably not as evident in a plastic punnet as they are in the ground ...lol

Posted by: Alice | July 10, 2006 11:05 AM

Cheers Erica. It's a great site from a 'moon-gardening' perspective. I'll leave this link here for people to follow but I'm not real keen on the author's offer of a "free introduction to Astrology".

Please note that my post about 'moon-gardening' has no links with Astrology, Horoscopes, Astral Projections or any other spiritual activity and was never intended to do so.

Posted by: Stuart | July 10, 2006 12:24 PM

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