Does any member know of a "Planting By The Moon" calendar or website for N.Z. (Coromandel Peninsula Region)? I have never used this planting system but am keen to give it a go.

Then there is also gardening by the astrological sign the moon is in. I've got a really good trial version of something called lunabar which puts the moon phase & astrological sign on your task bar of the computer. I'm sure there's somewhere on-line which would give you the gardening moon phase info too.

I *try* to plant & garden by the moon but so far am having limited sucess getting it together to do things when I am supposed to. I have a small toddler & then you also get unforseen things happen like it takes 2 weeks to get your lovely beautiful organic seeds instead of 1. So I think good forward planning is a must. Either way, I've had a lot more joy with my plants surviving & my seeds germinating than last year. It could be related to the fact that we've moved & I've yet to see a slug too :)

The Riverton addy for the everlasting moon calender is :

$3.50 each or $5.00 for 2 posted. Order with payment to South Coast Environment Centre, 154 Palmerston St. Riverton.

It works by having an outer disk with numbers on & an inner disk with the moon phases & what is appropriate to be doing. Each month you set the new moon to the correct number for the day of the month it is & away you go. It's a really neat device :)

In case you're interested as well, the web url for the lunarbar program is :

http://clysmic.com/lunabar/

If you download the trial version & set it up for NZ it works quite well. My trial copy is still working several months later.

If you want proper NZ astrological info in paper form, the creative cronies do a moon calendar & diary. Their web page url is :

http://www.mooncalendar.co.nz/cronies.htm

I have planted by the moon phase for years....its great

The book How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons advocates planting and transplanting by the phases of the moon. There are charts that indicate whether particular seeds would be better sown at the new or full moon. I've experimented with the process and it has worked.

"Short and extra-long germinating seeds are planted two days before the New Moon, when the first significant magnetic forces occur, and up to seven days after the New Moon. Long germinating seeds are planted at the Full Moon and up to seven days afterward. Seedlings are transplanted at the same time. Both planting periods take advantage of the full sum of the forces of nature, including gravity, light, and magnetism"...

Planting by phases of the moon and / or by the astrological sign that the sun is in are two different concepts. Every day somewhere on the planet it is winter, spring, summer, or fall depending on latitude and elevation. Therefore, it makes no sense that seeds would be best germinated under the influence of a particular sign where in one location it would be appropriate and in another not.

Local lore that indicates a planting time linked to a particular astrological sign may be fitting, but to make generalizations and then apply them to the entire planet is not.

The information in the book has more detail, so I'll include a link here as well.

Terran