March 2007

March was off to a flying start with a Lunar eclipse on 3rd/4th.

During "totality" the Moon took on a reddish hue; the only light reaching its surface by this stage had been filtered through the Earth's atmosphere. The copper-red Moon was visible across large areas of the UK.

The eclipse was visible from the whole of Europe, Africa, South America, and eastern parts of the US and Canada. Although eastern Australia, Alaska and New Zealand missed out on this total lunar eclipse, they will be able to see the next one, due to take place on 28 August.

I managed to get some pics from a webcast....so here's the whole event in a few minutes....enjoy!



After Saturday's eclipse, the next to be seen over western Europe will take place on 21 February 2008, but late in the night between 0300 GMT and 0400 GMT.

So what has all this to do with gardening and growing? Well there has been a long held belief that plants are tuned into the Lunar cycle. Some folk even practice lunar gardening. This isn't just superstition either, there seems to be some scientific basis on which to support this. If we think about it, man has long been ruled by the sun and moon. Long before mechanical time pieces came into being this was our clock. It would seem reasonable, therefore, to assume that plants also use the sun and moon as their timepieces. I haven't tried Lunar Gardening myself but would like to test the theory out next year to see what effect it has, afterall how many 'man made' things can you think of that follow a lunar cycle?