Gardening by the Moon

A few years ago, I began gardening by the moon as a New Year’s Resolution. When I began sharing a peek of my monthly lunar gardening calendars on Instagram and Facebook people wanted to know more details.  As long as humans have been growing their own food, the moon has played a role in gardening/farming for various cultures, such as the Greeks, Egyptians, Native Americans, Aztecs.  There are many ways to interpret the moon's influence on the garden, but in this blog post I explore how the Old Farmer's Almanac* formulates their Moon Gardening recommendations, which has been a source for farmers and gardeners for over 200 years.  

My New Year’s Eve resolution/experiment was inspired by my Great Granddad, who was a Florida Farmer known for his quality crops.  The Old Farmer’s Almanac was what my Great Granddad used every month when planning the chores for his various crops - cotton, peanuts, and tobacco.  His tobacco crops were the highest yielding and best quality around. So much so, that he was sought after by buyers from all over.  If the moon “wasn’t right,” he’d work around it and find other chores that needed to be tended to on the farm.       

What’s behind Lunar Gardening

The most simple way to explain the theory of gardening by the moon is that certain garden chores, like planting, harvesting, pruning, and weeding, are more successful during certain phases or positions of the moon.**  There are technically eight phases of the moon, but for gardening purposes we are going to focus on the basic four quarters - new moon phase, first quarter moon phase, full moon phase, and last quarter moon phase.***  The phases are also broken down into two periods - the waxing period and the waning period.  The waxing period is the time between the new Moon to the full Moon and the waning of the moon is the progression from the full Moon to the new Moon.  

Moon Phase Illustration by Diana Worden, my Mom, who is a Master Gardener in Alabama & Florida.

How it works

So, how can a rock 238,900 miles away impact the way plants grow?  Theoretically, through moisture and gravity within the soil and plants themselves.  Earth’s surface is covered with about 71%**** water and ocean low and high tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.  Similarly, gardening by the moon explores the Moon’s impact on the moisture in the soil and plant growth.  During a full or new Moon, the idea is moisture is pulled to the surface of the soil by the gravitational pull allowing seeds to absorb more water, causing the seeds to swell and germinate better.  This results in stronger, better established plants and higher yielding crops.  

When to use the Moon Phases 

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Ok, enough with the explanations.  When do I plant my seeds lady?!”  Let's explore how to use the rhythms of the Moon to plan your garden projects.  

Waxing Phase: 

During the waxing moon phase, the moonlight is increasing, or growing to illumination, until it reaches the full Moon phase.  From when the Moon is new until it is full, this is ideally the best time to plant or transplant above ground leafy crops and annual flowers.  As light from the moon continues to increase, it encourages the leaves and stems to grow.  

When planting during this phase, think about plants with a short lifespan that you want to harvest the leaves, fruit, or flowers.  It’s been suggested this is the best phase to fertilize, prune, or graft because sap flow increases, therefore regeneration or new growth is quicker during this period.  

PLANT: Above Ground Flowers, Fruits, & Vegetables

Fruits & Vegetables

    Beans 

    Corn

     Tomatoes

     Watermelon

     Broccoli 

     Strawberries

     Spinach

Annual Flowers

Waning Phase: 

During the waning moon phase, the light is decreasing from the full Moon to the new Moon.  As the moonlight is growing into darkness, plants are focusing their energy on their roots and tubers.  It’s during this phase that it's better to focus on planting below ground vegetable crops, flowering bulbs, biennials and perennial flowers.    

PLANT: Flowering Bulbs, Below Ground Vegetables & Fruits

Carrots

Potatoes

Onions

Rhubarb

Flower Bulbs

Perennial or Biennial flowers

During the very last Moon quarter phase, specifically the waning crescent period, it is not a good or “favorable” time to plant because it is the darkest of the lunar phases.  The waning crescent moon period is an ideal time to focus on your basic garden chores like composting, mulching, cleaning up your potting area, organizing your seed collection, or everyone’s favorite- weeding. 

That’s Just Loony

As with anything, there are people who have alternate views on gardening with lunar phases or are skeptical. A simple internet search for “Gardening by the Moon” will lead you to a lot of different theories and intense debates.  Not all of the content you find is clear or even consistent. 

There are different approaches to look at lunar gardening. As I’ve mentioned, my monthly gardening calendar is inspired by the Old Farmers Almanac, which mainly uses the “traditional” not astronomical way to interpret the moon’s influence.  I won’t explore the difference in this blog, but if you are curious, want to know more, and have some free time - ask Google.  

Prioritize & Organize

Even if you don’t believe or subscribe to the idea that the moon impacts the success of certain garden efforts, planning is critical for any successful garden. As a new mom, my time in the garden is limited. It is easy to get lost in the small projects throughout the garden. My Gardening by the Moon calendar helps me wrap my brain around the big picture and ask myself questions like “What is most important? If I have 30 minutes, what am I going to work on?”.  So in essence by prioritizing, being more organized and effective - my garden will be more successful!

Let’s say you think gardening by the moon is “Hocus Pocus” as one person expressed to me. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. But I would encourage you to look at the gardening calendar from a different angle. What if you think about it as a way to maximize your time in the garden or organize your thoughts?      

Final Thoughts

From my experience, I’ve been really pleased with my Moon Gardening Calendar.  I have to admit, there have been times I went against what my Moon Gardening Calendar advised and the majority of the time those plantings did not survive or do well.  As I mentioned before, I’ve found my calendar really helps with time management, which I find very important these days.    

This will probably sound very elementary, but I do have to point out the Moon can not take credit or fault for basic garden essentials like attention or knowledge.  As a gardenista or gardener, you can’t rely solely on the Moon for success.  There are obviously other factors, like weather patterns, hardiness zones, routine maintenance, and other essentials that play into a plant’s success.  

As I’ve said, Gardening by the Moon isn’t a new hipster concept.  Even if you don’t subscribe to Gardening by the Moon, hopefully this blog has encouraged you to think about approaching your gardening differently.  And maybe ask yourself, what would it hurt to pay attention to the patterns and rhythms of nature?  

Stay in Touch

If you are interested in checking out my monthly Gardening by the Moon calendar, I usually post within the first week of the month on the Florida Gardenista Instagram/Facebook. 

Sources:

*https://www.almanac.com/content/planting-by-the-moon

**https://www.farmersalmanac.com/why-garden-by-the-moon-20824

***https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/moon-phases/en/

****https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects