I’m excited to get going on some new moon-planting experiments this year, starting a little earlier and staying a little more organized. I’m not sure what outdoors experiments I might do over the summer—the weather’s very very changeable, with heavy late snows, and I think summer might be late too.
For indoor seedlings, I’ve started with pincushion flower, also called scabiosa. My seeds are a mix available from a local-to-me seed supplier called Hudson Valley Seeds. I’m starting these under a light and on top of a mat. I water once or twice a day but don’t use a clear topper of any kind—it’s so humid where I live that bacteria or fungus can take over soil or growing medium super quickly.
The first planting was done on March 4 with the moon 2nd quarter in Leo, and the second planting was done two days later on March 6 with the moon 2nd quarter in Virgo. For this experiment, I want to compare a recommended combination (waxing moon + Virgo + planting flowers) with one that is said to be unfavorable (Leo + planting anything). Seedlings emerged from the first planting on March 9 and from the second on March 10. Total germination for the Leo planting was 15/18 cells and for the Virgo planting, 17/18.
I’m also working on an experiment with flowering tobacco, also called nicotania. For this, I want to compare two recommended phase/sign combinations and see how each does. For the first planting, I did half a window box under 2nd quarter in Virgo, which has already germinated (seedlings ranging from still flat on the ground to just under 1/4″). The second planting is today, under 1st quarter in Aries, which is recommended for tobacco specifically—Aries certainly isn’t recommended for planting much!
I look forward to sharing the results with you all. It’s still early days, but the taller Virgo pincushion is already taller than the tallest Leo pincushion, and there are still Leo seedlings struggling to shed seedcaps, where the Virgo seedlings are fully germinated.
If you’d like to see pictures from our experiments–or the office cat snoozing on the germination heat mat–we often post those over on instagram or facebook.
Happy Gardening~
Toby
