Starting Seeds: Lunar Planting

 New Moon Wednesday, Feb 21

(NB: corrected from an earlier version.)
Debbie writes...
The next new moon is Tuesday, Feb 21...just a couple weeks away. With the strange unseasonably warm weather we're having it might be a good time to winter sow some seeds.

More at Gardening By the Moon...

At the new moon, the lunar gravity pulls water up, and causes the seeds to swell and burst. This factor, coupled with the increasing moonlight creates balanced root and leaf growth. This is the best time for planting above ground annual crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit. Examples are lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and grain crops. Cucumbers like this phase also, even though they are an exception to that rule.

Planting by the moon is an idea as old as agriculture, based both in folklore and superstition, but there are scientific ideas to back it up The Earth is in a large gravitational field, influenced by both the sun and moon. The tides are highest at the time of the new and the full moon, when sun and moon are lined up with earth. Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls upon the subtle bodies of water, causing moisture to rise in the earth, which encourages growth. The highest amount of moisture is in the soil at this time, and tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon.

Starting Seeds: Lightly Sifted Compost

Today we're launching a conversation about seed starting, and we hope you'll join us. I'll start us off...

Good advice from Sharon Astyk--smart, prolific writer:

You see, I knew you could start seeds in lightly sifted compost - in fact, I'd seen Rodale Institute tests that showed that some varieties seeds did best in finished compost. So, the year before, I'd gone out in February, dug up some compost, let it defrost, and then sifted it through an old screen and used it, with lovely results. All those living organic bacteria made a very happy arrangement, and the seeds I started that way did far better than those I did in organic potting mix.

Today I'm going to shovel out some compost and sift it through a screen. I'll use it in containers to start seeds using the winter-sowing method Debbie and Little Green Girl showed us last year. Not sure if sifted compost would work in the portable microgarden shown above, as it's sub irrigated and relies on a wickable potting medium.

I like the idea of using the rich resource we have in compost...and not having to buy potting mix. Since it was 60 degrees Jan 31 in Chicago and should hit 50 today, it's definitely gardening weather, at least for now.

Winter-sowing relies on cold...but we likely have more of that yet to come.

Winter Garden Update

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012... 11 days later.

The crops are still thriving. Yesterday Chicago was sunny, beautiful, and 47 degree. I even took the hose out to water the beds. They sure looked like they needed it.

But wait... winter isn't over yet! The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a big snow storm headed our way in a couple or so weeks. Time to winter sow seeds and plan the garden!

What are you planting in your garden this year?

Hive Comes Alive: January in Chicago + Low Tunnel Update

Honeybee on basil

Aug 30, 2010

In Chicago it's 40 degree F on January 27, but bees and humans alike share a little joy in the strengthening full sun. That's all it takes.

I went to the roof, where it was 75 in the unheated greenhouse (it needs organizing, but today's not the day). I'd seen some real bee activity on my bee monitor downstairs and thought I'd grab a quick vid. But as I drew closer the bees signaled their dislike by sending out a couple of peevish scouts to push me back.



No harm done--they apparently just don't recognize me in the dead of winter as they do in summer. Wondering about that wooden post in the video? Just 7 days ago it was measuring snowfall (we ultimately got near 7 inches).

Downstairs, full sun on the hoop enclosure too--far too warm in there for cool-loving greens, so I opened it up.

Attaching a piece of conduit to the edge of the Agribon fabric (shown in this post) really does make it easy to lift the fabric as a single entity and rest it on top of the hoops. These plants were happy to just breathe.

What a joy seeing this deep green parsley popping out with all the other usual suspects--tatsoi, mustard, arugula, kale. I'm kind of winging this whole low tunnel effort.  Fast Grow the Weeds gives me a clue:

I planted ... kale and salad greens back in late September.  These will be completely harvested by late March and then I’ll convert this greenhouse into a seedling nursery. 

Guess I'll follow suit. 

 

But instead of thinking about it, I picked a salad.

All About Sub Irrigated Planters

Nice job, Greenscaper Bob and Frieda Lim. Just the info people need as spring approaches...
TEDxManhattan: How to Cultivate a Logo from Sybil Dessau on Vimeo.



TEDxManhattan: How to Cultivate a Logo from Sybil Dessau on Vimeo.

Fresh Greens on a Snowy Day in Chicago

Up on the roof, Art's new snow gauge shows we're nearing 5 inches here in Chicago, good insulation for the beehive (at left in the picture) we hope. Shot this on the monitor down here in our toasty warm living space after shoveling those same 5 inches across the breadth of our generous sidewalk. 17 degrees F outside. The snow is beautiful.

On the second floor, the cool-weather greens are thriving in their SIPs, if slowly in the chill.

And down here: salad!

Winter Garden Trial

Today it was 25 degrees in Chicago. We expect to have a severe winter storm with 6" to 8" inches of snow by midnight. Yesterday it was 50 degrees and you wouldn't have known it was Jan 11th. Either way, our winter garden is still showing signs of life. Here's proof that you CAN grow a winter garden in Chicago. Growing anything makes me happy no matter what season it is.

Under the low tunnels the greens are doing well. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about the unusual amount of heavy snow we are going to get tonight, hoping the weight of the wet snow won't bring down the low tunnels.

Fancy red lettuce and spinach

Mache

Mustard Greens

Lactino Kale

Not everything faired as well... but that's ok. After-all, I have to remind myself that it's a winter garden trial.

The beginnings of a winter garden.
A different time. Another season.
October 23, 2011