Moon Gardening

Moon Gardening, ever heard of it? After coming across this term in a gardening chat, I was instantly curious to the meaning of this term. Thoughts of digging in the dirt at midnight didn't appeal to my senses however the gardening term brought up many different concepts that were later discovered as being intriguing. For instance, how does the idea of mowing less each month sound to you?

Moon gardening refers to gardening in different phases of the moon for better success. Taking into consideration the different phases of the moon, it is said that the moon's gravitational pull will effect the flow of moisture in soil and plants. At first I was skeptical however after thinking about the concept; I connected the generational passed down information on the scientific research relating moon phrases to the oceans' tides. Therefore, the concept of moon gardening can not be so far off, considering that the ground has a stream of water that is constantly available. In fact the groundwater tables show that ground water sees an increase by two to three inches during the night of a full moon stated in "Ed Hume's Garden Almanac". Therefore having a grasp on the moon phrases will allow a gardener to know when time such activities as planting, mowing, transplanting and so on should be completed. Understanding the timing and effects given by the moon phrases is the main concept of "moon or lunar gardening".

If not known already, the moon runs through a 29 day cycle which is further divided into four phases (or quarters). Each moon phase refers to the shape of the moon on each day. For instance, the moon always follows the pattern of "new moon", "first quarter", "full moon", "third quarter" and finally "new moon" again.