Lunar Calendar

I was talking with a gardening friend who thinks that it really works. She sowed cabbage seeds 4 days apart and the ones that coincided with the correct lunar planting time came up before the first lot! I have enough trouble getting jobs done on time without having to wait for the right lunar time as well as weather, time available and energy levels! Worth a shot though. It's supposed to be something to do with water table levels rising and falling with the tides.

I dont know if you have read any of my previous blogs but this year on my Square Foot garden I am trying planting by the moon - fingers crossed I hope to see some sort of difference!

Iv heard of the LUNAR TABLE as im into Candle Magic & i also have a use of the MOON LUNAR& of cos the 4 ELEMENTS of EARTH ; )

IVE HEARD OF SOME PEOPLE WHO PLANT THINGS SUCH AS POTATOES ON A FULL MOON ,AND IT HAS BEEN REPORTED IN SOME GARDEN MAGS THAT THEY DONT HAVE TO WATER AFTER INITIAL PLANTING ...MUST BE SOMETHING IN IT

Don't some people plant their potatoes on Good Friday? Not sure what happens whenit falls as early as this year!

Well as a few of us are having a go we can compare results later??Personally I believe there is an effect but as will anything to do with nature there a other influencing factors hence it's hard to be 'scientific' about it. The basic principle as I understand is the control of water in the ground and given moons gravity controls our oceans it's a fair assumption it will have some effect on the water table etc. What's a bit confusing is there are several different ways to plant by the moon, and then to add to that you have bio-dyanmic gardening too. I find the gardeners calendar.co.uk web site to be pretty useful. I have one of their calendars which makes is pretty easy to know when to plant Fruit, Leaf, Root or Flower plants.. I have seen a gardner who never waters his plants, he just plants, prunes and harvests by the lunar cycle..

This reminded me that I have a booklet called "Planting by the Moon" (a Rodale publication). Have just looked it out, but it seems too complicated for me. Like you, Volunteer, it's hard enough getting tasks done on time. I have to let work and days off determine my gardening. I'm going to read my booklet again, though.

There is a lot of good stuff on www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk if you know about RSS feeds you can be prompted what's best to sow / harvest on a weekly basis.

But to try and précis what I have gleaned...

The moon has four basic states - New, Waxing, Full & Waning

The really simple way is sow on a waxing moon and harvest on a waning moon.

The other method just adds a bit more detail to the phases by looking more closely at the moons orbit around the earth e.g. Early Waxing, Late Waxing etc. You need a book (like David’s) or a calendar poster to make this easier. But it's worth noting like any calendar they are only good for one year.

Thanks all for your replies. What prompted me to ask about this, is the proliferation of lunar calendars in EVERY French gardening magazine. Sadly I don't know many all round gardeners down here as I've said before most are vegetable growers only or have long established ornamentals that will do them fine until they die thank you very much!!
The concept of a purely ornamental plot is quite foreign to them (in this part of France) unless you have Chateau style gardens. Yet they all swear by the lunar planting.
I think next year (well starting this Autumn) I will experiment with it and see if it helps me plant up this new plot.
Thanks again for all the input and I'll keep you up on the news