“Something stupendous takes place on the earth as a result of the full moon’s forces.” Rudolph Steiner

One trick we use to make gardening more complicated is to plant by the moon. Specifically, we use the planetary positions to decide when to plant and cultivate – biodynamic gardening.

Rudolph Steiner was one of the first to study cosmic influences from the sun, moon, planets and stars as important factors to work with in agriculture. Maria Thun took Steiner’s idea and ran with it, developing charts that help growers choose optimum times to sow seeds, transplant, cultivate and harvest for storage.

The idea is that plants sown when the moon is passing in front of a constellation bearing the qualities of the Earth element have enhanced root growth. Results were consistently similar with leaf growth and the element of water, enhanced flowering and the element of air, and fuller development of ripe fruit when seeds were sown with the Moon in relation to the element of fire.

Thus, we plant beets on root days, lettuce on leaf days, beans on fruit days, you get the picture. (If not, here is an actual picture of the color-coded planing schedule).

I know it sounds like a total pain in the ass and I can’t imagine that any sane gardener has the time to follow such a regimen. But, the Boss has really taken to this approach to gardening — because he doesn’t already have enough to do.

Does it work? Not sure. Maybe. We like to think it does. Realistically, there are more powerful forces at work that will determine the success of our garden, like weather, bugs, soil quality.

More than anything, biodynamic gardening encourages us to extend our awareness to the influences of lunar rhythms in agriculture. It bring a more holistic approach to growing. More attention. More gratitude. More love.