Biodynamic gardening update: the importance of harvesting on the correct day
Posted by Fiona Nevile in General care | 15 comments
Photo: Parsley
“It’s amazing. I don’t care if everyone thinks we are mad. By gardening this way we will be growing food with the best flavour.”
“Do you think that I should mention our tests on the blog?”
“Definitely. These are not laboratory tests but they have convinced me. Surely everyone would be interested in growing food that tastes better.”
Danny had just done a blind tasting on some biodynamic flat leaf parsley that I’ve grown this year and some French flat leaf parsley that was already growing in the herb bath. They looked exactly the same but the difference in flavour and even aroma was astonishing. The biodynamic parsley was all that perfect parsley should be. The French parsley tasted a bit sour- it was a year old and had survived the winter under a cloche but I don’t think that’s the reason why it got the thumbs down.
I’m now into my fourth month of biodynamic gardening at the cottage. All is going well so far, good sturdy plantlets and quick germination. There have been a few losses – mainly cucurbits, tomatoes and peppers – I think that I need to fumigate the greenhouse this year. Damping off has been a problem.
Initially the idea of planting by the phases of the moon seemed a bit weird to me. Even my mum was perplexed.
“Does this mean that you will be gardening at night?”
In a nutshell the general idea of biodynamic gardening is that there are four types of days: root, leaf, flower and fruit. Root days are for tending root vegetables, asparagus, onions and garlic. Leaf days focus on leafy vegetables and herbs; these include all brassicas, salad and stir fry leaves, Swiss chard and the like. Flower days are just that – time to sow and tend your flowers. And finally fruit days are for tomatoes, peas, beans, peppers, all fruit and nuts and cucurbits (such as courgettes and squash).
Consideration is also paid to whether the moon is waxing or waning, ascending or descending. As yet I’ve just been concentrating on following the days. So all sowing, potting on and planting takes place on the relevant day. And now we will extend this to harvesting.
This week I remembered the biodynamic theory about harvesting produce on the correct day. If you follow the biodynamic calendar and harvest fruit on a fruit day it is said to improve the flavour and lengthen the storage time of the fruit. Same with vegetables and flowers.
We sometimes sell our purple sprouting broccoli on our stand. This is only on days we are happy to eat the unsold veg – as we only want to sell vegetables that are ultra fresh. On a warm sunny day the broccoli can look a bit limp by the end of the day. Up until now I hadn’t really considered harvesting the broc on a particular day. It happened to be a leaf day so I thought that I’d test out the theory.
The broccoli didn’t sell but still looked crisp and fresh at the end of the long sunny day. Danny steamed it to accompany cottage pie and it tasted fantastic. It’s a root day on Sunday afternoon so I can’t wait to harvest a little more and compare the flavour. Looking back our first PSB fest this year it did taste a bit disappointing. Unfortunately I didn’t note the day but I bet it was not a leaf day.
I read up about biodynamic methods in January. There isn’t a lot of information on the web so I invested in two books. One very beautiful and instructional – Biodynamic Gardening: For Health and Taste
You might have heard that Tesco and M&S never hold wine tastings on a root day. They use Maria Thun’s The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar
Throughout the year we will be running tests by harvesting our vegetables on different days and I will report the findings each month.
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Hi Linda M
I’m fascinated by this system. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results as the year goes by. The Lunar organics calendar comes with a free book – giving the basics which I find very useful for quick reference. I’m now going to encorporate waxing and waning moon into the system at the cottage.
Hi Bobquail
If you consider the power of the moon to effect the tides biodynamic gardening doesn’t seem quite so strange!
I’d bee really interested to hear how your salad leaves grow if you do try the experiment.
Hello Dave
Yes it’s a big thing in France. The last time I was over there I saw an amazing allotment but back then hadn’t heard of biodynamic gardening.
I need to experiment with the parsley by growing some more on a different day.
Hi Kathleen
That’s really interesting – I’d be fascinated to hear how it all turns out.
I started practicing this as I want to get the most out of my land and produce the best possible flowers and vegetables.
Thanks for dropping by.
After several disappointing gardening years here in Coushatta, LA, USA, I planted using the recommended dates in the Farmer’s Almanac. So far, everything I planted according to their timetable is doing well. I even planted before Easter! I used to wait until Good Friday, but I planted a few weeks before that. I haven’t noticed anything in the FA about harvesting, but the planting guide helped.
A friend who lives in central France was over last week and mentioned all the local village gardeners plant by the moon.
I have also read that Parsley from older plants does lose some potency as it gets older,I think this may happen more to biennials than perennials though.
Interesting… although I must admit to being a little sceptical because it does sound rather close to astrology to me. I have found a website http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/Moon_Planting.asp which lists the types of days, so when I plant more salad veg later in the year I might wait until a ‘leaf’ day.
I need to sow some sweetcorn soon but the calendar recommends waiting until a ‘fruit’ day before planting those so I guess I’ll just have to wait a bit longer.
Thanks for keeping us updated on biodynamics. I am finding it to be a difficult subject to learn online as you have found but will try to invest in the books you mention.
My grandmother always took care of my very long hair when I was a child. She would cut an inch off every month on the full moon because she said it helped it to grow “stronger” and faster. When she couldn’t cut it herself, she would not allow anybody else to do so unless it was a full moon!
Hi Toffeeapple
It’s a fascinating system and as I have much more time on my hands at the moment I reckoned that it would be the perfect time to give it a go.
I hadn’t reckoned on the harvesting and taste being so dramatic!
Hi Jackie
That’s a really interesting idea – living by the phases of the moon. I hadn’t heard about this.
Yes I will be writing biodynamic updates regularly. Thanks for your encouragement.
Hi Paula
I prepared some compost using their techniques and it has produced some wonderful stuff. I’m really excited about the whole subject and if it means that we are able to produce more crops that taste better we can become more self sufficient.
Danny now just accepts that I will invest in gardening books if I can’t find the information on the web!
Hello Mandi
Yes I’ve known people in my time that have been drastically affected by the moon but had forgotten all about it until you mentioned it. Thanks for the tip about hair and toe nails!
I am a firm believer in the powers of the lunar phases as my father suffered from terrible depression and you could map his behaviour on a calendar along side the approaching full moon. In fact the legend of the werewolf is merely an exaggerated example of mental health being made worse by the electrical influences of the full moon on the brain waves. Police even in recent years rota higher number of officers on duty when there is a full moon as its proven there is higher numbers of crime and voilent behaviour.
The moon is not as mystical and spiritual a thing as we would like though, scientifically its study has proven its effects are due to magnetic and electrical pull on a variety of things from violent crime to the best time to have your hair cut or cut you toe nails…:)
This is good to know- I knew that planting by the phases affects how plants grow and store, but I didn’t know it affects how they taste as well.
I’m so new to this growing food thing that I still need all the help I can get.
Now I wonder if Steve will blow a gasket if I order yet some more gardening books……
That was a really interesting entry.
Please do keep us up to date with your results.
I think some people live their lives by the moon, not just their gardening. Starting projects when the moon is waxing, for example, finishing things when it’s waning.
Maybe we could get a few comments if others know more on this subject.
Best wishes,
Jackie
A very interesting article Fiona. I’ve know about this system of gardening for years but have never put it into practice, having assumed that one needed to born to it, rather than learn it. You have convinced me otherwise and I shall be following the links you’ve provided. I look forward to hearing the results of the continued experiment.