ABOVE-GROUNDERS -- BELOW-GROUNDERS -- GERMINATION: 21 October 2002
MC e-mails: "Which moon quarter is the best to transplant flowering shrubs, and which for planting new purchases from the garden centre, such as Eucalyptus, Agapanthus and Cyclamen?" She says: "I fall down on my understanding of what grows above ground and what below."
"There is not a growing thing that does not have roots," the head gardener responds, "so it can be a puzzle: how do you decide what to plant at the start of the first moon quarter, and what at the start of the second?"
Quick answer: the below-ground developers for the first; the above-ground developers for the second.
"The shrub, whatever its age and its job in Dame Nature's job-creation programme, is a below-ground developer in that its roots are its powerhouse and the very centre of its being." The cabbages and the spinach and the lettuce and all of the other vegetables that produce their crops above the surface have the lesser task of root development. That is the case, also, with the one-season flowers.
The newly-sown/planted below-grounder is most helped by the fortnight, approximately, of increasing moisture in the top soil that commences at the start of the moon's first quarter. The newly-sown/planted above-grounder's requirement of moisture is not so great -- in addition to which, the week of the second moon quarter's increased moisture content kick starts seed germination or optimises the fusing of the plantlet's hair-like roots to their host soil.
"Again," the head gardener reminds, "the efficacy of all of this depends upon the other measures specified in the manual being taken fully and efficiently and at the correct times. It is not possible to isolate a single element of horticultural activity and claim that it alone is the key to success."
