Tuesday, June 17, 2008

You've been Mooned!



Fully mooned!!
This lovely one is referred to as the STRAWBERRY MOON!
The names for the Full Moon were made up by the Algonquian tribes of Native Americans. They hunted and fished to get food, but some also grew crops so the moon names are aptly related to nature & the seasons. Go pick some strawberries, yum!!

Ever wondered why some seeds or plants do well and come up strong and others just wither away for no apparent reason? Come on, there's a reason for everything right? Pretty easy really, above ground crops and flowers do best when the moon is light, below ground crops do best when planted when the moon is dark. Here's a handy dandy chart from the Almanac. to help! I've been doing this method for about two years now and to great success! Right now we have sunflowers growing for a Summer bee experiment, a butterfly bed or three, toms all over and every which kind * thanks to the kids, auberines, strawberries, potatoes (mm.. really must pull those up!) herbs all over, lettuce, onions, corn and melons ( note to self - finish building that melon trellis)!! All this in a 18x16 area of raised ceder-bed heaven! Here are the potatoes pulled today!

I keep forgetting to take the camera out there and it's a community garden so I have to schlep a little!
Here's the potato 'seed' I'll use for the next crop...
and the haul...Donovan Boy and Little Gandalf were so excited at the prospect of a possible two sittings of roast pots from this...sure, I'll roast these up along with my head in this heatwave! Maybe we'll settle for potato salad!!
Meanwhile, the not-very-impressive-yet-but-has-potential, beginnings of the melon experiment...trellis is only half built, I'll up date another pic when it's done...where is that Cricket Man?

3 comments:

RunninL8 said...

That concept never even occurred to me but makes total sense! Thanks so much for the Almanac link. Definitely put up some pics-I’m looking forward to it! Our property here in Alaska is not conducive to gardening-unless we put in a hell of a lot of work and $. But I’ve been wanting to put in raised beds.
I LOVED tending my own plot at the community gardens when I lived in Missoula Montana! Such a great group of people and I learned so much…

~Phaedra~ said...

Hi there, I love hearing from you! Can you do green house gardening up there in beautiful Alaska? I've had so much trouble with gophers, tree roots and bad soil, I splashed out two years ago and build these great beds so I can control my soil and build lasagna compost beds right in there!

kat said...

lovely taters!