I am just about to eat some delicious
potatoes we grew on our plot...some golden-beige, oval beauties. Being city
born and bred, there is a certain magic in it all for me...potatoes planted by
hand this year on St.Patrick's Day - a Root Day - dug out over the summer and
eaten through the autumn and into winter. They taste something like velvet,
though I can't truly say I know the taste of velvet. Their flavour is rich and
the experience expands the senses. Each time I eat anything from our plot, I
feel an immense gratitude. It puts life in perspective, increases my
appreciation for the amazing teams globally who sow, plant, harvest, pack,
organise, deliver and sell us our food, from the tiny grains to the larger
foods we enjoy and on which our very lives depend. This is a humbling
experience before me on my plate.
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| Nice Root Crops |
But back to St. Patrick's day...it was a
Root Day and, since joining Minnowburn National Trust Allotments (a year ago),
I've been determined to 'moon-plant' as we now affectionately call it.
Moon-planting refers to sowing and planting according to the cycles of the moon
and thus the (probably not so subtle) rhythms of our cosmos. It's all about
timing, it seems - the more precise you are about your gardening, the better
the results according to ancient wisdom, since verified by some scientific
experiments. Root Day is
for planting / sowing root vegetables such as potatoes, beetroots, carrots,
onions etc. Leaf Day is for
working with many of the leafy herbs, cabbages, lettuces, coriander, celery
etc. Flower Day is for
those vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, flowering plants etc. and Fruit-Seed Day is for peas,
tomatoes, broad beans, courgettes, cucumbers etc. We tried it and it worked.
The nasturtiums were delicious - some of you tasted them on the Flaming Nora
day! Our potatoes were delicious. Our beetroots were delicious. The list
goes on. The organic moon planting worked!
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| A pretty display |
I've also heard this method referred to
as 'planting by the stars'. This might be preferable since 'moon-planting' has
brought mild mocking from those who think I also have an allotment on the moon.
The method can get quite complex, so I just follow a book. I would have
planted anything, anytime, with no understanding of the greater forces of
nature or how to respect them, had it not been for a relative who gave me a
special book called 'Gardening & Planting by the Moon 2012' by Nick
Kollerstrom (published by Quantum) which, if followed systematically,
encourages higher yields, better flavours and heightened colour in your
vegetables and flowers depending on when you sow, plant and also harvest...The
introduction to the book is great - a short two pages - just about all a busy
gardener can read in between weeding! It then gets a little mathematical...
We know from studies about how our
vegetables absorb water and nutrients, the rate at which they grow, their
metabolic rate, their electrical activity etc., that they are following tidal
rhythms. I wonder if our beekeepers at Minnowburn also notice fluctuations in
levels of busyness or other behaviours in their bees depending on the cycles of
the moon - some evidence of these cycles can be reflected in the activity of
bees too apparently. We ourselves are not immune to these cosmic rhythms
either, just perhaps a little less sensitive to them nowadays. No doubt, it's
full on, what with turning on our axis daily, amongst the other cosmic
commitments we have!
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| Kales show off after moon planting |
For our plots, the full moon is an
especially important time as our plants' metabolic rate and water absorption
are at their highest. Apparently, this is the best time to sow plants, which
brings me back to St. Patrick's Day 2012, a perfect Root Day (though not a full
moon day, as it happened. As I mentioned, it can get a bit complex). The one
issue to consider about moon-planting here is the weather. We would have
planted our potatoes on an earlier Root Day had the weather been better. Still,
it turns out that it was good to wait as the ground had become warmer.
Our potatoes resisted the floods and
also the blight that seemed to decimate crops elsewhere. It may also have been
the case, however, that we got to our potatoes just in time. At a first glance,
they looked like they were dead with their thick leaves all black and flattened
to the soil. It didn't look good at all. Slowly, we pulled them out and dug
below. A few single potatoes had been hit by blight but not completely and to
our sheer surprise and total delight, the rest of the crop was good. Actually,
good is an understatement. Incredible would be more apt. They were perfect. I
will never know if, by planting them on the Root Day, they got a better start
to life, which then made them more resilient for a longer period of time. I've
heard many other success stories similar to this from gardeners who know moon-planters
or who employ the moon-planting method themselves.
The book I followed is also a diary so
you can write in what you did and when you sowed, planted or harvested. It
conveniently provides symbols as reminders so you know which are your Root /
Leaf / Flower / Fruit-Seed days. It even gives precise times in some cases for
certain activities. The only thing the book doesn't mention is which is
the best day to enjoy digesting your crop! In my case, it's daily at the
moment. Apart from some morning basics (milk, cereal), my food intake is
coming from the abundant plot. I notice too, that at mealtimes, I eat the food
we grow ourselves much more slowly than other food, honouring its extraordinary
journey to the plate. It's true to say that meals have since become a ceremony
in appreciation.
Having gone through the process for the
first time this year, I marvel at what happens when we cooperate more gently
with nature and the complexity of all its elements. If anyone wants a moon
planting versus non-moon-planting tournament next year, do let me know!
Róisín, plot
No.15 (Nov. 2012)
Courgettes make lovely cakes by the way.... 
Comfrey is one of those amazing plants - it is loved by bees and can be used to make a liquid feed twice as rich in potash as farmyard manure. It is also a perennial so there is no need to sow fresh seed every year. In honour of its greatness we now have a comfrey bed in front of the gazebo. Plants were kindly donated by 2 gardeners and natural wood was provided by the National Trust
. 
After a long weekend of brick making and 2 layers of bricks the oven is taking shape. It has been left for a few weeks to dry. Although there are some cracks we have been advised that this is perfectly normal for clay drying out, thats the story we're sticking to anyway! Work will continue this weekend to complete the third and final layer of brick made from 3 parts sand to 1 part clay. It really is an impressive sight and even more so when you consider all the effort and man/woman/child hours of labour, cups of tea and head scratching. Hope to see you all there to complete our very own mca, hand made pizza oven.
