Permaculture in Action

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Flower Days

Here on the farm we follow Brian Keats' Astro Calendar (link here). It is full of so much useful information, and is of a great benefit to what we are doing here at Purple Pear.


Each month is given it's own page and you can see that it is packed with loads of information.



But for me, as the propagator, I am most interested in the day by day planting guide. Today being the 22nd August you can see  that there is a carrot and flower pictured with the time 09.16 which means that at 16 past nine this morning it changed from a root day to a flower day.



This influences so many tasks such as propagating, cultivating, weeding, feeding etc. And it is all influenced by which zodiac the moon is in. The zodiacs are divided into the 4 elements

Fire signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius and when the moon is in these signs working with fruiting plants is in order.
Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn and when the moon is in these signs root vegetables are most advantageously worked.
Air signs are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius and when the moon is in these signs we concentrate on flowering plants.
Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces and when the moon is in these signs we devote our time to leafy plants.
And at the moment here in the southern hemisphere the moon is in Libra, an air sign, a flower day. So I thought that as Spring is in the air ( we are in short sleeves after all) and I'm the propagator, that some beautiful spring flowers were the order of the day.


Not only do they attract beneficial insects to the garden and feed the bees but they do brighten up the day.

Thanks for visiting


Kate

5 comments:

  1. The calendar looks fantastic Kate. I should look into it. And love the flowers. I don't plant enough these days. Always too busy with the vegetables. I love aquiligas!

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  2. I am going to look up that calendar. I think it helps even to remind us to plant , because sometimes I miss a vege growing season altogether. I felt very excited when I read your post about when to plant as i planted carrots at 10am yesterday!!!!! I got it right!

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  3. Hi Kate,

    I'm using Lyn Bagnall's book at the moment. Do you think they are similar?

    Mel:)

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    1. Mark here Mel.
      The system that Lyn uses is different to the Brian Keats calendar in several ways. They do actually conflict a bit.
      Brian uses the Siderial (actual) and not the traditional zodiac. Lyn uses mainly the phases of the moon as influence. These influences are important for plant growth and are accounted for in Brains calendar but not necessarily used by Kate in propagation.
      I think it is important to be in a natural rhythm and either will do that for you but to try and use both systems will (I think) be confusing

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  4. Thanks Mark. I think I will just stick with Lyn's book at this stage. I'm still finding my feet with all this moon planting. So far it has been working well and I've got lots of little seedlings everywhere.
    Mel:)

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