Calendaring Tips & Easy Rules for Moon Seeding
Calendaring Tips:
Plan ahead, and look ahead. Develop a calendar along with a map of your rotation, and look ahead to seeding and transplanting dates. Prepare beds well in advance (1 month). Pre-weed beds whenever possible, especially for less weed tolerant crops (carrots, etc.). Plan for early spring beds in the previous season. Mulch or plant winter-killed cover crop so you can get on the soil early. Locate early beds where they will get good light and drainage. Plan ahead for the winter garden. Winter crops need good light (low sun of Winter) and good drainage. Follow early spring crops with winter crops. Keep good records of weather, seeding, transplanting and harvesting; this info will be very valuable in subsequent seasons. Get to know what seeding/planting dates should be fluid and which should be set in stone. Understand the challenges of the season, germination in early spring can be tricky because of cool soil temp, whereas germination in the summer is tricky because of the heat. Talk to and share information with other gardeners and farmers. Push dates when you have extra space in the garden, especially when the weather seems co-operative.
I have included below the concepts of Phenology and Moon Planting as I believe they can help fine-tune seeding dates in the garden and also give some structure so that everything doesn’t have to happen all at once. It’s not always practical to follow Moon Planting, but it can be a great organizational tool. If planting by the Moon throws you off your normal seeding date by too much, just stick with what has worked in the past.
Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate. Examples include the date of emergence of leaves and flowers, the first flight of butterflies and the first appearance of migratory birds, the date of leaf colouring and fall in deciduous trees, the dates of egg-laying of birds and amphibia. In my garden, I watch for the germination of different volunteers to guide me through seasonal seeding windows.
Easy Rules for Moon Seeding:
New Moon to First Quarter: Plant above ground crops with outside seeds (greens) and flowering annuals.
First Quarter to Full Moon: Plant above ground crops with inside seeds (peas, beans, tomatoes).
Full Moon to Last Quarter: Plant root crops, bulbs, biennials and perennials.
Last Quarter to New Moon: Barren time, do not plant. Good time to weed.