By the Light of the Silvery Moon by Jack Wildewood

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

How does your garden grow?
A good way to maintian a healthy garden is to plant by the moon...

From ancient times mankind has relied upon the orbit of sun and moon to determine his preeminent moment for planting and harvesting the staple crops which we have come to take for granted. In those far off times there was little help to be gathered from such sources we now possess and it became a religious ritual in order to manifest a successful crop to feed the people who came to rely on the fruits of their labours.
There is much debate as to the origins of our calendar but it is most likely that the demand for greater accuracy in determining the course of the moon grew in importance as agriculture became the driving force behind the change from hunter-gatherer societies to towns and the first great cities.

It is even likely that the religious concept of rebirth and a life beyond death grew from the agricultural revolution since Egyptian burial rites have been discovered with a seed-soaked effigy of Osiris within the tomb. Such artifacts have been found with barley and wheat that still germinated many thousands of years after entombment, and are thought to have been in hope of similar resurrection for the devout, bringing an awareness hitherto unknown to the consciousness of humankind.
However...
This development brought about an increasing necessity for more accurate knowledge of the lunar and solar cycle so farmers could plant with a degree of certainty that his seed would germinate successfully. Without such knowledge the seed could not be brought to successful harvest, leading to famine and great suffering within the growing urban civilization that relied upon his crops.

In the beginning; each farmer had a planting cycle based upon the moon phases which had widely differing variations dependent on the locale and, as their calendars were passed on through the generations, they evolved to cover the various crops grown and the more productive farming techniques used, such as irrigation. It was noted that different plants grow better when they are planted during different phases of the moon. Each phase imparting an influence on the way vegetation grew through the rising and falling of the moisture in the ground and in the plants.

To provide more accurate records it was noted that certain crops fared better when planted whilst the moon was in a specific constellation. As the moon can take only two to three days to pass through a constellation, the planting calendar gave the farmer a definite advantage. Planting, however, was not the most important time for the farmer: harvest times had to be recorded, because when you harvest at the correct time your crops will last much longer. This is due to how the plant stores the water in the fruit/crop at different times of the Luna cycle.

Modern society is rediscovering the benefits of planting by the Luna cycle and various methods are used to generate Moon Planting systems for us to use. Some of these systems would appear to contradict each other but it is important to remember they are guidelines for horticulturalists to use and modify, and are not an exact science.

The three Moon planting methods are: The Synodic (waxing and waning cycle), the Sidereal and the Biodynamic cycle.

The Synodic is a simple form of Moon planting which divides the Luna cycle into four phases within a cycle of 29.6 days to complete. It then groups plants into categories: Root Crops, Foliage, Crops with outer seeds, and crops with inner seeds. It then assigns plants to the phases of the moon which best suits their growing characteristics.

The Biodynamic cycle is a more detailed method using the signs of the zodiac as a method of positioning the moon for more accurate planting. This method was developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, and the Zodiac signs used are from the actual positioning of the signs in the sky when the moon passed through them. In addition to the position of the moon, Venus and Saturn also played a large part in this method.

The Sidereal cycle is very similar to the Biodynamic cycle except only the moons orbit around the earth is used to define the best times to sow and harvest. The orbit is divided up into twelve equal thirty degree sections to represent the position of the moon in the sky, but it may not be the same as the current moon position. The sidereal cycle takes 27.3 days to complete.

For instance; today, the 20^th August is a good time to sow vegetables that produce internal seed bearing fruits, such as tomatoes by the Synodic cycle.

In the Biodynamic cycle; the Moon in Sagittarius, a Fire sign is a good time to sow fruiting plants but it would not be a good time to sow Leaf plants like Basil. And in the Sidereal method, the Moon is in Sagittarius:
A dry and barren time, making it a propitious moment for garden maintenance.