New Beginnings

I’m just starting to feel that spring is here. The daffodils are finally beginning to open, at least a month later than usual, and both the conservatory and the smaller tunnel are bursting with small plants. I still find this time of the year really exciting and I inspect every pot and tray of seedlings daily, checking to see what, if anything, has germinated overnight.
For many years I have planned my propagation campaign with the help of a moon diary. The one I use is Gardening and Planting by the Moon by Nick Kollerstrom. I don’t pretend to understand the finer details, I leave all that to Nick, but it works for me. I also know that the mere mention of the moon sends some growers crazy, insisting that it is all a load of rubbish and pointing out that the vast majority of growers have nothing to do with it and still produce good crops. The way I look at it is that it at the very least does no harm, and once, years ago I did a trial in my tunnel, which proved to me, in that instance, that it did work.
I sowed radish, (as it germinates and matures very quickly) in my tunnel, in the same bed, during the same week. One sowing on a root day, and one sowing on a leaf day. This wasn’t scientific in that I didn’t have a control bed, but after about five weeks the difference was unmistakable. The radish sown on the root day had very little leaf and fine swollen roots and the radish sown on the leaf day had lots of leaf and tiny roots. I‘m sure the leaf day sowing would have caught up but obviously something was different.
I was talking the other day to a scientist, who had for many years studied seaweed. She confirmed my instincts about this as she said that seaweed growth is definitely dictated by the moon. So, I am going to try some more experiments this year. Meanwhile it is a great discipline. Knowing that today is a fruit day, I will do my utmost to sow the last of my tomato seed, cucumbers and a few early courgettes to plant in the tunnel. My first trial will be with tomatoes. Using the same variety sowing on different days just to see what difference, if any, it makes.
Now I am off outside to inspect the seed trays in the tunnel, worrying the seeds into germinating quickly in the hope of making up those lost cold weeks.