[mkhenry]

Munty explained that one Henry.  If the bean is looking up to the sky it rotates in a  clockwise direction following the track of the sun diring the day.  When the bean reaches the bend in the string it helps to keep it climbing the string.  If you planted it to face the other way it would fall off the string.  

All plants need light and heat from the sun.  They don't need moon beams or the planters psychological energy to help them to grow.

You have misunderstood what I mean by moon gardening.I totally agree with you about the moon beams and tha jibberish about the planters psychological energy.What I am talking about is a million miles from that rubbish. Take a look at the following link.Not to try and convert you but to see what I mean by moon planting. You may disagree but you will see its not rubbish far from it.

www.moongardening.fsnet.co.uk

I do not know how to do the link properly but that will get you there

[mkhenry]

Forgot to add muntys frame does work and for very sound reasons.

Moon planting or at least the type of moon planting I am talking about also works because of sound reasons.

It is not to be confused with star light moon beams or witch craft or other strange practices :roll:

[Babycat]

fight! fight! fight!  

Honestly, I dont know how the heck any of this works either but I am really interested so I will look into things a bit more - there is a gardening calendar available which I will get my all too clean mitts on and share with the class.

It isnt just to do with the moon - it has to do with other things too I think.

Who knows - the moon regulates the tides on our little planet and even how ladies feel at different times of the month  :oops: so maybe there could be some truth out there?

To be continued......

[Aunt Sally]

fight! fight! fight!  

Aunty and Henry don't fight, we debate, and Aunty always wins  

[WG.]

Aunty and Henry don't fight, we debate, and Aunty always wins

And if she doesn't, she can edit Henry's posts so that she does  

[mkhenry]

I always take notice of Aunty and listen to what she says,because Aunty is one of the corner stones of this site.I would never argue but I will and do debate.I know I will always lose but thats ok sometimes its a privilege to cross swords with someone you respect.Meanwhile I must go and don my invisibilty cloak and sneak up on the varmits that are eating my few lettuce plants.I shall wait until the moon is full though.

[Aunt Sally]

    I'll have to let you win now Henry  

[brucesgirl]

Sorry to poke my nose in here, but have a suggestion.
Why don't you do a trial between you, Aunty plant something next year in the way she normally does, and mk plant the same thing by biorhythm method, and then share the results with all the rest of us.
It would be really interesting for the rest of us to follow.

[Aunt Sally]

Sorry BG there would be far too many variable to make it a scientifically fair test.

All variables need to be illuminated except for phases of the moon.  Hard enough to do on one site (as Monty Don proved) let alone on different sites miles apart.

[richyrich7]

I always thought biodynamics was about burying dead things like roadkill in the corner of the field.    Sorry but it sounds a little too earth magic to me  :roll:
Good soil = Good plants

[mkhenry]

Theres a chap who has been doing research for the last 40 years,I dont think 1 season would help.I have been planting the old ways all my life,and that includes what is now called moon planting.Unfortunately the words have hijacked to mean something else entirely...



Our ancesters knew that the sun and the moon affected plants in different ways.Water tables rise and fall according to the moon.Night temperatures slow down or speed up plant production just as the sun does.This is fact. Its nothing to do with what the words seem to mean today.Up untill around 150 years ago almost all planting was done according to old tried and tested methods,but the cabages and carrots they grew were scawny twisted things.Seedsmen started to produce TRUE seeds that would produce good tasty uniformed veg for the first time.Then they went for resistant seeds and kept improving right up to the F1 hybrids of today.
Along side this chemical control started in earnest allowing anyone to grow super veg.Slowly but surely bad planting practices started to take hold less manure more chemicals cheaper and bigger crops was the cry.Taste and quality suffered but the masses were fed. The old ways got a little lost but struggled on until about 50 odd years ago when supermarkets began to emerge,and so the trend continued until the revival of so called organics.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I just prefer to plant as organically as I can and include the planting LORE passed on to me by the old boys around when I started.These men gardened in the big old victorian type walled gardens and were a group of absolutely no nosense down to earth people who were very good at their jobs.They produced no matter what was thrown at them,and their ways will always be good enough for me.    

[mkhenry]

I always thought biodynamics was about burying dead things like roadkill in the corner of the field.    Sorry but it sounds a little too earth magic to me  :roll:
Good soil = Good plants

The meaning of Bio Planting to me is again totally different .To me it means understanding the structure of a plant,understanding why and what makes it grow.Knowing that yes it needs nitrates and potash etc but why,how does it help the plant.How do tentrils grow and knowing why they twist and turn in the sun.Understanding the internal structure and how external forces influence them.


No exhibitor of almost perfect plants or those expert gardeners who produce the giant specimens of vegetables in even the smallest shows can do so without understanding the very nature of their chosen subjects.That to me is bio planting. Knowledge and Skill combined with dedication.However most of us are quite content to stick it the ground and water it. I need to know WHY it grows and HOW to make it grow better.
and if thats now called bio planting so be it

[richyrich7]

Yes think you are right mkhenry, but like I say good soil = good plants, just as you say our ancestors used lots more  manure than most of us ever do. Mind you then it was the norm for people to keep animals. So more muck to dispose of. Some interesting results have been thrown about in the "permaculture world" when everything is just put straight onto the earth and not dug in etc yields increase enormously. This I assume is because the natural flora and fauna of the soil increases making available more nutrients etc and good bacteria etc etc so we get back to the fact that the most valuable asset as a gardener is the stuff we walk on!.

As for Supermarkets they are the worst thing to ever happen to farmers, smallholders and allotmenteers alike. The organic return as I like to think of it, is only being now used by them as a way to make more money. they are not interested in any way shape or form in my opinion on whether the egg you buy has been squeezed from a caged bird or laid by a free ranger what they want is as much of our money for as little of theirs as possible, same for carrots blasted to death with whatever or grown organically they don't care. Unfortunaly most of us me included have to use them they have squeezed this country dry of corner shops etc I have to drive nearly 4 miles to my butcher it's 2 to tesco ! or asda in either direction  :roll:


But I digress   I can understand the thinking behind planting by the moon. but not by the bury a horses head or whatever and hey presto.  

[richyrich7]

I need to know WHY it grows and HOW to make it grow better.
and if thats now called bio planting so be it

I like to know why too, does that make me a bio thingy also ?

[mkhenry]

Not everything from the past is good far from it.Its not so long ago that people thought that to bless a house and be sure of prosperity and good crops you had wall up a live cat or even a baby.

Many old cottages have discovered this sort of thing.Some say the baby was dead and they needed to hide the body others that it was part of the ritual.Whatever it was gruesome and dreadful.

So I am glad not all practices are around today. :!: