By the light of the silvery moon . . .

This wonderful old man in our branch has become my gardening mentor. I was asking some advice about planting and he told me I needed an almanac. I said, "Like the Farmer's Almanac?" "No, no, this one is specifically for this area. They will print in the spring and I will get you one."

He brought it to church last Sunday. It was all about planing by the moon and other astrological signs. I was a little shocked and more than a little skeptical. I had never heard of this before and I didn't know what to say. I thanked him but didn't really take it seriously.

Later, I was talking to Mark and Robin and Mark told me that Nono, his Grandfather who lived in Napa, always planted by the phases of the moon. This changed my perspective a little so I did a little research on the internet yesterday. Although it still seems a little superstitious, there is some science behind it and really, I may just like the idea of doing something that my great grandfather did. I always like the idea of the wisdom of generations past and not reinventing the wheel.

I'm going to try it! I planted about 100 onions on Saturday. According to the charts the ideal time to plant onions (and any other bulbs) is in the 3rd phase of the moon (full moon to last quarter) so I was a little bummed to see that I was about 3 days late. We'll see what happens.

I really excited about this little experiment!