Week in Retrospect : 8 JAN 2018 – 14 JAN 2018

If you've missed the news - I'll be taking on the community interest group for herbs on the North Shore of Auckland!

I've managed to secure a lovely new venue for our group. For more informatio see our Facebook page for more details.

I have a lovely history with the North Shore Herb Group, and feel very happy and excited to be running it!

Long ago, and far away... about 8 years ago, and just over 12,000km away... I had a little herb shop and nursery and did a newsletter which got picked up and subscribed to by a lady in New Zealand. Turns out the lady was the then president and convener of the Auckland Herb Society. I was very chuffed indeed to find a .co.nz address on my subscriber's list as we had already started our plans to move to this new country... Long story short, I e-mailed her directly, and we became good friends over the long distance and our shared love of herbs. When I finally arrived in NZ, I was happy to settle in Albany and to finally meet her face-to-face and join in with her wonderful Herb Group on the North Shore. I've been part of the North Shore Herb Group ever since.

Moon calendar planting is often scoffed at, and on the other hand sometimes even given magical credence... and I've been asked about it often. Here's a few FAQ's around it...

Do I garden by the moon?

Yes, I do follow the moon calendar for planting. But here is the qualifier: *as much as I can*. This means that I don't only ever sow above-ground crops in the week or so following New Moon. Life sometimes have different plans, and maybe you can't get to your seeds or garden when the calendar says you should, and I for one, don't always want to wait another 4 weeks (for the next "fertile period") to put my seeds in when I didn't quite manage to do so in the moon allocated time.

Why do I garden by the moon?

It is a great tool for me to schedule tasks in my garden, and give me a routine to work with. Otherwise gardening can become a bit-of-this and bit-of-that affair without any real focus or strategy. If I block off certain times of a month for certain tasks, I find more gets done, and I feel calmer about it all too. And if I am going to schedule my to-do, then I may as well do it according to moon calendar.

Does it work?

The theory around moon gardening works on 2 main principles, as far as I understand it at least - the main one being water and the moon's gravitational effect on it, and the other is light.

Now anyone who lives near the sea, understands and experiences first-hand, the pull that the moon has on the bodies of water on our planet (tides). So too, says the moon-calender proponents, will it have an effect on the sap of the plant, the water molecules in the soil, and the water table.

The other is that light affects germination, and with the increase of light after New Moon (the dark period), seeds may germinate better (at least the ones that need light to germinate).

I have found that although seeds will germinate and grow almost anytime, sowing and planting according to the moon calendar gives me better germination rates, faster sprouting times, stronger seedlings and healthier plants. The difference isn't a shocking or awe-inspiring one, but there definitely is a benefit to growing by the ideal moon phases.

New additions to my garden... because aren't they just SO pretty!?

I was hoping to save seed and be able to offer the coreopsis and gaillardia in the nursery at some point, but I think they may both be hybrids (need to do some more research), so the seed may not come true to type. Still going to try though! I honestly loved the flowers from the seed I saved from my Moulin Rouge sunflowers, and they were F1 hybrids. Always worth taking a chance, I reckon!

Harvests continue pretty much the same as last week, except I have a few more yellow zucchini, and lots more tomatoes, and a lovely big rampicante zucchini too! The chillies are now ripening beautifull, and I've harvested Cayanetta and Hungarian Hot Wax this week.

I'm still getting cucumber, cocozelle zucchini, beans, spring onion, tomatoes, and lots of culinary herbs - marjoram, oregano, sage, rosemary, basil, mint, chives, and thyme.

Edible flowers I have harvested this past few days include calendula, bergamot, sunflower, dianthus, cornflower, viola, starfire marigold, chives, rosemary, and scented pelargonium.

There is a lot of plants going to seed now, and one of my busiest times for seed saving is just about to start!

Heads of sunflowers heavy with seeds bow down in the wind, and fluffs from lettuce seed heads gives the garden a misty look. This past week I've also saved seeds of: