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| Beans anyone? |
If there is one thing I have learnt about my gardening exploits it is that if I grow something well one year there is ABSOLUTELY no guarantee that it will be a success the next year! And vice versa of course. Last year I had an abysmal crop of Broad Beans. This year I have loads. LOADS!!
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| A barrowful of broad beans |
So why the difference? Better weather? More manure in the soil? Fewer pests? Good gardening practices? Luck? To be honest I don't know but many a French gardener may have an answer ... the Moon. Every year garden centres and the like sell books detailing gardening by the phases of the moon. Different crops (root, stem, leafy etc) should be sown at specific phases of the moon cycle for optimum cropping. Hmmmm? Can you tell I am not convinced? In fairness it might work but not for me. My gardening and sowing generally takes the following form:
- Look out of window and see it is raining. Defer gardening to another day.
- Look out of window, see it is perfect weather for gardening and realise you have other things you HAVE to do. Defer gardening to another day.
- Look at calender and realise if you do not sow seeds NOW it will be too late.
- Don wellies, ignore everything else and sow seeds regardless of the weather or what phase the moon is at.
So, possibly, I sowed by beans at the right phase of the moon this year. I really do not know but I do know we have a lot of beans in the freezer right now.
I also snapped these pictures from around the garden at Eco-Gites of Lenault this week. Perfect proof of why I am not an overzealous weeder! They may be weeds in many books but they are lovely wild flowers here.
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| Feverfew |
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| Great Mullein |
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| Dwarf Mallow |
And finally one for you to guess - does anyone know what plant this is?
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| Mystery Plant |
How is your garden growing this week? Have you any successes or failures to recount? Please do let us know and then you can pop over to Manneskjur (she who was Mammasaurus) to see what has been happening in other people's gardens.
What a wonderful crop of broad beans, yummy!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the moon could play any part in gardening, but then I really don't know much about gardening to be honest. Whatever your method you certainly have some fantastic results
Thank you , Amanda. I have as many failures as successes though!
DeleteI've heard about this idea of gardening by the moon. There might just be something in it because I too have successes with things one year swiftly followed by disasters and I've no idea how or why!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to do a controlled planting one year - same plot, same seeds, same care with sowing at different phases of the moon being the only difference ... but as I have trouble finding the time to get one lot of seeds in let alone 2, this is probably not going to happen!
DeleteGarlic ?!
ReplyDeleteNow that is one haul of broad beans! I must admit I have a total weakness for them, chuck on some crumbled up crispy streaky bacon and I would total implode with pure joy.
I am growing runner beans here for the first time in my life - despite, I'm told by grandad, using far too short bamboo canes, there's plenty of flowers and I have high hopes. Matters not that I don't care for runner beans - next year I'll graduate onto growing what we'll actually eat. This gardening thing is a learning curve yes?
Thanks for joining in again xx
Not garlic! My runners are really slow this year - poor germination early on and possibly wrong moon phase (???!!) but we usually have lovely long autumns here so they should catch up.
DeleteLearning curve - yes - you never stop learning ... and you get to eat the fruits (and veg) of your education!
i have heard about the moon taking part in veggie growing. i think i heard it in west virginia where my husband is from. i'm a moon believer so i do believe a bit in that theory. no matter what, congrats on all the beans!
ReplyDeleteThe moon certainly affects my moos so perhaps it can affect the seeds too.
DeleteAubergines is my guess. Grew them in the green house one year and they were bountiful. Never had a good crop since. Maybe it is the moon.
ReplyDeleteI know what your mystery plant is because we also grow them....but I'll keep it going for a while! Is it the long, round or pear-shaped variety? The moon exerts a great influence around here as well - even to the extent of when to prune, cut your nails or have a haircut...
ReplyDeleteLong and black - I must try some different ones another year although I do find the white ones odd!
DeleteAs for the moon's influence - is it OK that we cut the boys' hair yesterday?
Interesting post. Brings back memories of my boyhood days in Indiana growing a garden.. I think my Dad believed in planting potatoes during a full moon! So maybe there is something to that! BTW, the beans look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting - there are plenty of "rules" around for planting but as I said, my gardening revolves around whenever I can find the time to get things done!
DeleteThere is nothing like a garden! I'm not sure about planting and the phases of the moon. I never went by that. The rule of thumb use to be that you waited until after the last frost, usually around Mother's Day to plant. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly plenty of rules like that too - and we have had frosts as late as the end of May.
DeleteMmmm!
ReplyDeleteI love broad beans!
We all do too .... luckily :)
DeleteSorry I don't know what your mystery plant is and I'm not sure I'm a believer in moon planting. But well done on your bumper crop, we're harvesting broad beans at the moment but have got some black fly on one of the plants :-( x #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteDid you now that if you have black-fly you can nip off the tender tops of the stems which they prefer without adversely affecting the crop.
Deleteyour weeds are gorgeous! we have farmer's almanacs here with moon planting charts. an old friend of mine used to use one. hmmm. not sure about the mystery plant, but it looks like some potatoes that i photographed earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteIt is related to potatoes - it's an aubergine!
Deleteomg haha your broad beans are just awesome if you dont know what to do with i can send my daughter round and by the time you get them to the kitchen half will be gobbled up ps love your black fly tip we suffered badly from Black fly
ReplyDeleteHoe the tip about tips helps your beans!
DeleteIs your mystery plant aubergine/egg plant? I have so many tips on how to have awesome plants mostly involve poo and pee but no moon so far. Your beans are so awesome! I am thinking of this recipe that my mother cook with them! Yummy! #hdygg
ReplyDeleteYes it is aubergine!
DeleteIs the mystery plant an Aubergine? I'm sure I had something like that growing early on in my gardening...
ReplyDeleteRight in one Katie :)
DeleteTELL ME WHAT THAT PLANT IS OR I AM GOING TO GO MENTAL.
ReplyDeletePlease ;)
AUBERGINE !!
DeleteI had never heard of moon planting until I watched 'The Big Allotment Challenge'. A couple on the programme practised lunar planting but I think they went out in the third week!
ReplyDeleteSo we will never know if it worked or not!
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