Biodynamic Gardening

I am lucky enough to have a plot in an organic community allotment which is located in the walled garden of an old convent in my village in North Wales: www.salenasallotmentadventure.blogspot.com/. Therefore I was delighted to be able to attend an advanced gardening course in the beautiful educational centre Trigonos, in the heart of Snowdonia. The course was organised by BTCV (British Trust of Conservation Volunteers) who help allotmenteers and give them the chance to attend free courses. It particularly appealed to me as the main focus of the day was biodynamic gardening.

Biodynamic gardening is gardening in tune with the moon and other cosmic forces. I have researched this subject but wanted the opportunity to see it in action. So what better place than Trigonos, which has 18 acres of biodynamically grown land, where they also produce food for the courses and to sell to the local community.

In the morning we learnt the science behind biodynamic gardening and many sceptics were soon converted by the science and logic the course was based on. We learnt about the movement of the moon, sun and planets and linked these with the signs of the zodiac. We then learnt that the different signs of the zodiac were related to different groups of plants and when the moon is in the different signs it is the best time to sow and plant out the different varieties of plants.

Lion, Ram and Archer (Warmth) = Fruit (All fruiting plants such as beans, strawberries and tomatoes)
Crab, Fishes and Scorpion (Water) = Leaf (All leaf plants such as lettuce, cabbage and herbs)
Twins, Waterman and Scales (Air) = Flower (All flower plants including broccoli)
Bull, Goat and Virgin (Earth) = Root (All root plants such as potatoes and onions)

I soon realised that there is a lot more to biodynamic gardening than meets the eye and it cannot be learnt in a day. I did, however, manage to pick up quite a few tips to put into practice on my plot. I also learnt that the moon has a lot of power and want to start enjoying the moon as much as I enjoy the sun.

By observing the moon you can put a few basic biodynamic principles into practice just like farmers used to:

• Sow your seeds around the time of a full moon.
• Do not sow your seeds at the time of the new moon.
• The best time to plant out (in the UK) is when the moon is descending.

But you don't have to make lots of complicated charts to follow the basic principles. You can buy a biodynamic planting and sowing calendar which will show everything one day at a time so it is easy to see what plants to plant on what days.

Later in the day we went on to learn about biodynamic preparations and how we can help put life back into the earth. Everyone had a go at making these and we learnt about making other biodynamic preparations from manure. A lot of these are very time consuming and the one I participated in took one hour of constant stirring. What was amazing though was the difference in the feeling of the water by the end. We also learnt about plant brews and how to make smelly and odourless plant feed and pest deterrents, how making brews from plants can kill the same plants and how horsetail can be used to cure fungal problems!

As I am a vegan I would not make a lot of the preparations because of the animal input so I was very interested in the video we watched about green manures and stock-free (or vegan) growing by the Vegan Organic Network.

At the end of the day my head was spinning and I went home to think about my way of gardening - do I choose organic, biodynamic or stock-free? I then concluded that they all have positive and negative points so I am going to develop my own way of gardening that suits my way of living and how much time I have to spend on my plot by using the plus points from each principle. Here are my personal positive and negative points for biodynamic gardening:

Positive:

• It organises you into plant categories so you know what to do day by day.
• You appreciate your surroundings and become more in tune with nature and the moon.

Negative:

• The use of animal products such as manure and cow horns.
• The use of peat to store the preparation (peat is used because of its power to absorb radioactivity) and although only a small amount is used this conflicts with my principles.

I recommend that everyone looks into biodynamic gardening but I would advise not to try to do everything at once. Take what you want from it and develop a style that suits you. One thing I learnt from the biodynamic course is it doesn't matter what your land is like - with care and protection you can put life into any soil. The soil at the farm was so stony that the molehills were almost pure stone but the food they grew was strong, healthy and delicious.

I also recommend becoming a volunteer for your local BTCV group as you will meet many interesting people in your area and have the opportunity to gain a vast array of knowledge and new skills.

I will leave you with a recipe to deter cabbage white fly.

24 hour nettle brew

Roughly 1kg nettles
10 litres of cold water

Pour the water over the nettles, leave to brew for 24 hours and then use to spray your plants three times in the space of a few hours.

Salena

Photos © Salena Walker 2009

www.demeter.net
www.biodynamic.org.uk/

Both Weleda and Dr Hauschka use biodynamic ingredients in their skin care products.

For those of you that are interested in finding out more about biodynamic gardening:

The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 2009 by Maria Thun and Matthias K. Thun
The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 2010 by Maria Thun and Matthias K. Thun
Gardening for Life: The Biodynamic Way (Art & science series) by Maria Thun and Matthew Barton
The Biodynamic Food and Cookbook by Wendy E Cook

Our affiliate merchant AMAZON has lots of books for sale around this subject. The Big Green Idea is paid a commission if you choose to buy via our links. These are not recommendations by the author and are chosen purely to give a representation.