Grow Your Own Magazine

Is it coincidence or have they taken on board that this seems to be the most popular topic in the grapevine? Would be interesting to know if the grapevine does influence the mag.

Jaxom at least you've got your copy of Januarys magazine. Once again mine has failed to appear.

__________________
[

The first thing I will say at the beginning of this post is that I will not be covering methods of digging and soil preparation. R.J. Harris has access to a walled garden and a whole staff of people willing to dig down a meter into the soil to construct his growing beds for him. His digging methods make double digging a walk in the park by comparison. There are so many ways to dig and prepare your beds each year that everyone knows in their heart of hearts which one they will be using regardless of what vegetables they intend to grow. If you intend to double dig or build raised beds when it comes time to compare your beans they will all have been grown in the same bed. The only difference will be did you plant in the quarter as directed by R.J. Harris or at another period during the moon cycle.
What I personally want to know from this experiment is if planting seeds and young plant by the quarters of the moon has any degree of influence on how they grow or taste.
As most people have asked for Beans I will start with these first and at a later point pose the same question “Which vegetable do you want next?”
The types of beans covered in the book are
Broad Bean, Climbing French Bean, Dwarf French Bean and Runner Bean.

Broad Beans
Broad Beans can be sown between October and February in monthly sowings. R.J. Harris stops sowing in January as he wants the same ground for spring cabbages that have been sown in pots during May and June in order to go in the ground in June and July.
At the start of the September moon’s fourth quarter apply 60g of Blood, fish and bone to the square meter where you will be growing your Broad Beans.
At the start of the October moon’s second quarter make a channel in the earth 8cm deep and 20cm wide. This channel can be as long as you wish. Put each seed 20cm apart following the line of the edge on one side. On the opposite edge do the same but lightly staggering the placing by 10cm. If you looked at the channel you would see a zing sag placement the entire way down the length of the channel. Back fill the channel using the rake. Mark the channel to show type of crop and if it was sown in conjunction with the moon quarter of against the advice given.
A second method of sowing broad beans is to stretch out two parallel lines 20 cm apart and using a trowel [never a dibber] excavate all the 8cm holes in one go making sure to stagger the second line. Drop a seed in to each hole then go back to the start and fill the holes. This will guarantee no blanks are left. Each month at the start of the moon’s second quarter you can sow another batch of Broad Beans.

Which of the three other moon quarters you also chose to use as a control is up to you but please make notes of what went where and when.
When you finished harvesting all your broad beans cut down the plant to soil level but leave their roots in place as these roots will be of enormous benefit to the next crop of spring cabbages that have been sown specifically in pots to go in this very spot. Spring Cabbages are ravenously hungry for nitrogen and this need has been meet by the secreted Broad bean plant roots left in the soil.

Climing French Beans will come tomorrow.

Climbing French Beans
At the start of the April moon’s forth quarter work 115g per square meter of Fish, Blood and Bone in to the ground where you will be growing your Climbing French Beans.
Early in April sow your seeds into individual pots. There is no quarter of the moon that dictates when to sow the seeds in pots. Having said this bare in mind that at the start of the May moons second quarter you will be planting out your plantlets so they must be of a size and hardened off enough to go outside by this time.
At the start of the May moons second quarter, construct your wigwam or bean frame that will support your beans in the coming months. Water each plantlets in their pots well two hours before planting into the ground and leave in a shady place until required. As each platlet is planted in the ground to the outside of each stick insert a single Climbing French Bean seed 5cm deep as close as possible to the cane. This will extend your season and double the wigwam/frames productivity.
At the start of the June moons fourth quarter dress the surface of the Mays planted Climbing French Bean bed with 60g of Blood fish and bone. Lightly work it into the soil.
If you wish to extend the season of the Climbing French Beans you can repeat the process for a June and July wigwam making sure that you have sown, bean seeds a month prior as you did to create your May wigwam of Climbing French Beans.
At the end of the harvest cut the beanstalks down to the ground but leave the roots in the soil, as these will have built up a good supply of goodness for the following crop of vegetables.
Early in the year you may have to protect young plant with fleece until the weather gets warmer.
Remember to sow a control group so that you can compare results and make sure you mark each group withthe details to aid identification later in the year.

Runner Beans
To grow Runner beans using the moon gardening methods of R.J. Harris follow exactly the same directions as that for Climbing French Beans.
Lesley Jay: has your January issue arrived now? I hope it has.
Jax

I thought I should post the dates that the moon quarters are for the months when people may want to join in the test.

April 2006
First quarter APR. 27
Second quarter APR. 5
Third quarter APR. 13
Fourth quarter APR. 21


May 2006
First quarter MAY 27
Second quarter MAY 5
Third quarter MAY 13
Fourth quarter MAY 20


June 2006
First quarter JUNE 25
Second quarter JUNE 3
Third quarter JUNE 11
Fourth quarter JUNE 18

July2006
First quarter JULY 25
Second quarter JULY 3
Third quarter JULY 11
Fourth quarter JULY 17

As people may have spotted, the first quarter of a moon could be at the end of the month in which you had intended to plant seeds or plants.
For example:
In the case of Climbing French Beans. you would prepare the soil with Blood, fish and bone on the April Moons Fourth quarter which is APR.21st and plant out the plantlets you grew in early April in pots on the May Moons Second quarter which is MAY 5th.
May Moons First quarter does not come till later in the month on MAY 27th


I just hope I haven't started to confuse people
Jax

What the Moon looks like today
For a scientific explanation about the moon what better place to go than the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Moon phase information
At times like this, I wish I was Johnny Ball
Jax

Hi All,

This intrigues me and I'm up for the trial, but when planting seeds at the right time for the moon, does this mean in the ground where the moon has it's power? I always sow most seeds in pots in the greenhouse, would this count or would it just be sowing outside?

Regards
Louise

Thankyou Jaxom you must have been posting the answer to my question as I was sending it - what a brain!!!

Thanks again
Looloo

Jaxom when planting the seeds in the greenhouse do we have to follow the moon or is it just when the plants are planted out?

__________________
[

The main reason for moon gardening is to make sure your plants and seeds have a head start when you plant at the most opportune time for them.
If you think about a plant or seed and what it needs, it basically boils down to: Light, food and water.
If you are planting after the winter solstice then the hours of light are increasing each day as we move into spring.
If you prepare your ground well and add plenty of muck and compost then you will have added all the food a plant could need. The muck and compost also act as a sponge to lock any moisture into the ground. This organic sponge is not fussy about where the water comes from. Rain, hose or underground store, as the plant needs water so it takes it.
If a plant is restricted in the access it has to water then growth slows down and the plant can suffer or vegetables can become bitter.
Moon Gardening utilises the gravitational pull of the moon to alter the earth’s water table. In the first and second quarter the water table rises and feeds the plant/seed as well as filling the spongy ground store you have provided to your vegetables to grow in.
During the third and fourth quarters the water table goes down so plants and seeds are reliant on rain or an hour or two with the hose. If when preparing your beds you have dug deep and layered down leafmold, compost, manure, between the earth and the surface then the water surrounding the plants during the third and fourth quarters will remain longer.
When it comes to plants in pots you provide all the needs of the seeds. Water, food and light position. The cycle of the moon will have no sway on the growth. In this case it’s all down to you. There is no magic to help seeds and plants in pots. The care you as a gardener provide determines how well your seeds and plant do.
Moon Gardening is not "Magic" but using observation of the world around you with a little 20th century science to explain why it works.
To sum it all up. Plant in pots at any time of the year. Just bare in mind when you will need the plants for planting out so that you leave adequate time before hand to start them off.
hope this helps?
Jax

As I have posted information on the moon I thought I should post some on the sun or rather information that tells us about how much day light we can expect during the year.
As the earth turns it also tilts on its axis. This tilt provides us with our four seasons Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. As the north tilts towards the sun we get Spring followed by Summer and the Southern Hemisphere countries such as Australia get their Autumn followed by Winter.
When the north tilts away from the sun we get Autumn followed by Winter and down-under they tilt towards the sun for their Spring followed by Summer.
This tilting that provides us with our seasons also provides four markers of time that are watched for by farmers and people who feel linked to the earth.
These four points in the year are Earth’s two Equinoxes and two Solstices.
On the time of the Equinoxes the hours of daylight and darkness are exactly the same, twelve hours of each.
On the time of the Solstices there is an imbalance between daylight and darkness. At the Summer solstice the hours of daylight outnumber the darkness, but at the time of the Winter solstice the balance is reversed and the hours of darkness outnumbers the daylight hours.
For those that are interested here are the dates for the future Equinoxes and Solstices.

2005...
VERNAL EQUINOX.....(SPRING) MAR 20 2005
SUMMER SOLSTICE....(SUMMER) JUN 21 2005
AUTUMNAL EQUINOX...(AUTUMN) SEP 22 2005
WINTER SOLSTICE....(WINTER) DEC 21 2005

2006...
VERNAL EQUINOX.....(SPRING) MAR 20 2006
SUMMER SOLSTICE....(SUMMER) JUN 21 2006
AUTUMNAL EQUINOX...(AUTUMN) SEP 22 2006
WINTER SOLSTICE....(WINTER) DEC 21 2006

2007...
VERNAL EQUINOX.....(SPRING) MAR 20 2007
SUMMER SOLSTICE....(SUMMER) JUN 21 2007
AUTUMNAL EQUINOX...(AUTUMN) SEP 23 2007
WINTER SOLSTICE....(WINTER) DEC 22 2007

So basically moon gardening is all about water. As I water my vegetables sufficiantly there shouldn't be any difference between my planting and moon planting - should there?

__________________
[

OK you got me. there is more to moon gardening than just supplying the water a plant needs. The moons gravitational pull also works on the plant themselves as plants are basicly made up of water.

When I first mentioned the possibilities of trying out Moon Gardening and what type of vegetables most people would like to try. Beans came back as the answer from most.
When harvesting beans you need to collect every other day at least during the growing season to keep bean production going. A lull in picking would stop the vine producing flowers. However beans harvested during the first and second quarters of the moon should taste better than beans harvested during the third and fourth quarters.
When it comes to other vegetables the time you harvest them is considered by R.J. Harris to also be important. Harvesting at the correct time in the month can make a big difference in how long vegetables will store over winter and also how much taste they contain at the time you harvest. Remember freezers and fridges have only been around for a short time. Our ancestors had to know the best time to pick and store for the coming months if their families were to come through the winter, healthy enough to start the new sowing at spring.
Any way less of the history ramble and back to the Vegetables.
As the Moon waxes so sap rises in the plant as well. This would be a good time to harvest crops that grow above ground, as they will be at their best and also their most flavoursome. Root crops during this time will be sending all their power up above ground to their leaves. Pulling Carrots at this time in the month would result in weaker roots but very tasty leaves.
When the Moon Wanes the plant slows down its cycle of sending the growing force upwards and instead at this time concentrates on its root growth and structure. During the third and fourth quarters of the moon, carrots would be at their tastiest, and a good time to store or freeze for the coming year. Brusslesprouts, cabbage, and broccoli on the other hand would not be as plump and juicy.
Hope this helps. Sorry if I didn't mention this before but I was trying to keep it as simple as I could.
Jax

Jaxom two things. First there is alot of information about dates to plant and now dates to pick the crop. So I think it would be very helpful if during next year when the growing season begins, each week you could write a few lines about what we should be doing that particular week.

Second, a while ago I saw a programme where I thought this woman was daft because she was putting newspaper under the seed potatoes but thinking about it that is like the equivalent of putting compost in to help hold the water in the moon planting. Yes? All this extra water must help swell the potatoes.

__________________
[

As I will be trying to garden by the moon for the first time this year I will try and post helpful notes as I come across them, as well as things to do this month.
Jax

I take it that when you say "putting newspaper under the seed potatoes " you mean, as she put them in the ground. If this is the case then the newspaper would act like a sponge and hold on to the water when the rest of the ground around the seed potato was drying out. once the potato had sent out its own roots then the need for the news paper would be less. The news paper would then be turning in to organic matter which would add water holding properties to the soil for future plants that may be planted in that spot.

Jaxom there is a discussion on another forum about moon gardening and a question was asked about whether slugs and snails were affected when the moon waxed and wannned. If they are more active at certain times depending on the moon. Does it cover this in your book?

__________________
[

Sorry. No information. I'm afraid that it is still old-fashioned warfare.
Jax

In March's second quarter I will be planting out my pea plants that I am due to sow in pots this coming week in my greenhouse. the peas are soaking in a little water in my Kitchen (starting to swell up)
21st Feb (fourth quarter) Time to apply Blood, Fish and Bone to the area set aside for peas
6th March (second quarter) Plant out young Peas with a pea seed next to each plant. (cover with fleece for early protection)
Jax

Just a recap for everyone as to what gets planted when. I know we all said we would like to trial beans and peas but there are going to be other veg going in to the ground over the next few months.
First quarter Moon: Plants that produce their seeds on the outside, such as lettuce, Pack choi, broccoli, annual flowers and herbs have an affinity with this quarter of the Moon. Sow and transplant them during this phase.
Second quarter Moon: Plants that set seeds inside a pod or skin do best when planted in this quarter. These are primarily vegetables such as beans, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.
Third quarter Moon: All vegetable root crops such as potatoes, onions, radishes and beetroots, parsnips do best planted in this phase. Perennial flowers, flower bulbs, shrubs and trees also prefer the third quarter.
Fourth quarter Moon: This phase is reserved for garden DIY and odd jobs. There’s a gardening tail that if you remove weeds during the fourth quarter, they won’t grow back! I can't imagine bindweed giving up.
As you plan your garden this year, consider timing your plantings by the phases of the Moon. I am hoping for great results, I am sure centuries of gardeners who swore by this method can't be wrong.