Asparagus and the moon

[sweet-pea]

Hi all

I am planning on trying to plant following the biodynamic method this year and I was wondering whether anyone would know what grouping of plants asparagus would come under.  I don't want to buy the calender this year, but instead I am using the web version someone kindly posted on A4A a while back.

Many thanks

SPx

[sweet-pea]

[tabbycat]

My calendar says they are root veg, so they're in the Earth group.

Hope his helps.

Tabbycat

[sweet-pea]

Thanks you Tabbycat, I wasn't sure whether I'd get a reply, but yours is just what I wanted to know.  Good job I checked as I was thinking that perhaps they were a leaf veg, although root was my second choice.

Thanks again

SP

[Amazin]

What calendar have you got, Tabbycat?

[tabbycat]

I've got  "Gardening & Planting by the Moon" by Nick Kollerstrom. It's the only one I've come across that's nice and simple to understand. I'm not very good with numbers and charts - I get them mixed up really easily.....perhaps I'm numerically dyslexic  :)

Last weekend in Brighton on a girlie shopping trip I gave the hotel receptionist the wrong room number - right numbers, wrong combination, & ended up in somebody else's room! 

Fortunately they weren't in it at the time.  Had to go back and explain myself.....very embarrassing  :-[

Tabbycat

[sawfish]

Can anyone say for sure that this 'moon cycle' stuff really, really works?

I tend to be naturally cynical about these things.

[Trixiebelle]

Dunno Sawfish? But one of our allotment holders, an Italian guy who has 4 allotments and has been gardening up there for 40+ years, plants by the moon cycles.

He has learned this method of planting from generations of gardeners in his family.  It's nothing 'right on or hippy'. He just does it automatically as a matter of course.

Maybe it's a skill that has been lost over generations? Follow the instructions on the seed packet/manual etc. instead of taking notice of the older generation of gardeners who have a 'feel' for the land and the seasons?

[tabbycat]

I was reading about lunar planting in one of Chris Stewart's books - he's the "Driving Over Lemons" guy, & he was saying that the farmers in his area of Spain use the lunar calendar, because it's really easy to remember. Just by looking at the night sky, you can tell roughly where you are in the month.

For generations, the Spanish farmers were illiterate and had no access to, or understanding of formal calendars - & it was the same throughout Europe. Weeks and months meant nothing to them. They used the lunar cycles and the saints days as a planting guide. Everyone went to Church and the festivals were a marker of how the year was passing. As many of the Church festivals are the same dates as older pagan celebrations that were more nature/seasons orientated, it makes sense.

As for whether it actually works or not, there have been trials done that have had positive results. I don't really take any notice of them to be honest - I've always planted this way and it just feels right for me.  :)

Tabbycat

[Amazin]

I've got  "Gardening & Planting by the Moon" by Nick Kollerstrom

Me too. I haven't spotted anything about Asparagus yet, though. I've been wanting to try this method for ages, so I'll definitely be using the Guide this year, as far as possible, and labelling stuff as moon or non-moon to see if there's any noticeable difference. Mind you, I think ANY guide or calendar is useful for me, as my memory is... er...

???

[teresa]

Luna gardening or gardening by the Moon is a new lable for how gardeners have been gardening for years.
Talk to any old gardener they will tell you how they learnt from family how  to garden.
Years ago no gardening mags or TV programs to tell them how and what to do. They gardened with the change of the seasons.
I remember mum saying about planting on the shortest day and digging up on the longest day think it was potatoes ( not to sure) this was how they worked.
The idea of the moon controls the levels of water in land and sea seems to be the idea to sow and plant as its heigh in the ground and the roots follow down after the moisture. We all know watering everyday gives surface roots which can dry out?
With our weather changing hotter summers water bans etc finding alternate gardening methords is a must.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Planting on the shortest day and harvesting on the longest sounds like garlic; it certainly won't be potatoes.

[Curryandchips]

Or shallots ...

[teresa]

thanks guys mum did not grow garlic but did grow shallots.

[tabbycat]

Me too. I haven't spotted anything about Asparagus yet, though.

If you look on page 57, there's a list of veg and what groups they fit into.

Tabbycat

[Amazin]

D'oh!

[cornykev]

Bloke at work said its shallots he always does it on the shortest day. I asked if he planted by the moon because like sawfish I am a cynic, I haven't been following these threads on moon planting so I thought I would listen to what he had to say, he said when its a full moon theres a gravitational pull which draws the moisture up to the surface therefore feeding the roots. He also said that years ago farmers used to plant spuds on the night of a full moon I laughted imagining the wonky rows I would sow by torch light, have I got this right or was it one of my many strange dreams. ;D ;D ;D .

[LILACSPLASH]

glad you have those dreams too...

[Robert_Brenchley]

He also said that years ago farmers used to plant spuds on the night of a full moon I laughted imagining the wonky rows I would sow by torch light, have I got this right or was it one of my many strange dreams. ;D ;D ;D .

Someone's dreaming; I believe they did plant at Full Moon, but they did it during the day.