Gardening by the Moon Weekend To-Do
An idea as old as agriculture, based both folklore and superstition but there are scientific ideas to back it up.
Lunar Phase: New Moon on Thursday September 1 Saturday-Sunday: Moon in the sign of Cancer - Water, fertilize and compost -- …You encourage a new flush of flowers with seasonal color by removing the spent or old flowers and fertilizing.
Later in the Week
Wednesday-Thursday: Moon in the sign of Virgo - Harvest medicinal plants.- …The ideal time of the day for harvesting medicinal plants is in the mid morning after the morning moisture has evaporated off the leaves and before its gets warm.
Other Things To-do
- …Tomatoes get very crowded in their cages by this time of the year. So, it is not a bad idea to thin out some of the shoots to open things up and improve the air circulation and let in more light.
- … It's not a bad time to prune the dead wood out of citrus and shape the plant(s). It is normal for citrus to have dead wood in the center of the plant. Also, remove all the sucker growth from below the bud line. This growth is very aggressive, and will easily dominant the plant.
- ...And finally, Lily of the Nile, Agapanthus, do not shed their spent flowers. You’ll need to cut them off with a pair of shears or scissors when they faded.