Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Planting By The *Signs*



My seeds are sprouting like crazy and as soon as the new moon hits, I'll be ready to plant.

A word about planting by the moon and all that..
Some folks laugh at me for planting by the moon. They can go ahead and laugh. It works!
Man has planted by the moon since agriculture reared it's head. Many (primitive) cultures still do it and smart gardeners do it.
When our ancestors used the moon as a guide for agriculture, they did so to ensure the highest yields and the healthiest plants. It wasn't some *new-agey* thing they were doing to be trendy!
You can check a Farmers Almanac :
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/
to find the best days for planting, cultivating, etc.
Some books that are good to keep in the Homestead Library on the same subject are:
Moon Times  (I have this one...good stuff! It is a bit dated, however and the moon sign charts in the back are out of date)
Raising With the Moon (Next on my *to buy* list!)
You and the Man in the Moon  (which explains how to use an almanac to your greatest advantage)
Guided By the Moon  (their lunar calendar runs out in 2010, but this is still a good book!)

My Irish grandmother gardened, harvested, preserved food, butchered, etc by the *signs*. She did this to make sure her family would have a full pantry and larder. She also made her soap and did other things around the farm under the correct *signs*. This was not considered *trendy* or foolish, ALL the farm wives (and farmers) paid close attention to the timing of their work so as to achieve maximum benefits for their efforts.

If you know any older farmers, see when they plant and then check the almanac. Or try an experiment...plant seeds or transplant seedlings on various days. Note which plants were planted on the correct (optimum) days and which ones were planted on the worst days. Treat the plants the same.
Now see which plants produce the most!
If you do that little experiment, you will soon be convinced of the time-tested tradition of planting by the *signs*!

1 comment:

  1. probably the reason my tomatoes did crappy last year, I planted them on the wrong day.

    ReplyDelete

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