May 09 2008
Posted on Tue, 20 May 2008 14:24:50 by Aaron
Moon first quarter
Astrology = notable grand trine Saturn in Virgo, 1:43 /Pluto Cap 0:49/ Venus Taurus 10:14--- Moon is cancer 6:07!!! Best time for planting.- It is sextile to venus and Saturn at 3:00 pm.
Tomorrow the moon will still be in Cancer 16:58 . sextile the sun at 9 am… a good time for planting. With a conjunction approaching with mars… could be intense weather, but also quick germination. Wait!! Mars is in detriment in Cancer, so the seeds might have a bit of trouble breaking out. But at the very end, so when it moves to Leo in a few days everything should sprout like crazy! So the moon will definitely dominate it. As it is in its ruler. Venus is notable in its rular and Taurus and sextile the moon as well. Should be a great time for earthly activity with sun in Taurus.
Today, my seeds arrived – Indian Rice grass, Salt bush, and yucca. I Started them soaking and then some stratification for salt bush (5 days) and just over a month for the Rice Grass. I was intending to put the yucca in the deserty area to the north, but am feeling like a row of it along the road in front of what will be the hedge row will be nice to, I will add in some salt bush and lots of xerescape flowers and grasses to make that area look good/ be a good break from the road and as low maintenance as possible.
Im not fully decided on the location for the rice grass, probably all over the property, its native, nitrogen fixing, not invasive, pretty, edible and low maintenance.
Plus all this astrological analysis has me all amped up for planting… its such a great time, But as ever surrender to the great spirit, Ill get done what gets done.
I dug up some sun chokes invading my moms flower bed and put them on the edge of the shade behind the wood shed. A nice wet spot where they can grow up into the sun. I fenced that are off from the chickens, and had some inspirations for a wall of oyster mushrooms, and some kind of great tree in that little sheltered nook.
Also had some inspiration for altering the design of the property. Rather than move the chicken coop, the area to the north of the house could become the major gardening area. Add more orchard/ fruit trees to the north and east of the Chicken coop and fence the chickens into that quadrant and the wild cottonwood grove right behind the coop. Then just in front of the coop could become the main zone 1 garden, there is already a natural terrace running east to west in front of the coop, with another step just down from it. The wood shed is right there and the root cellar too. Its got great vehicle access, and is also zone 1 for the sustainable house we are planning. The only issue is eventual shade from the hackberry and the ash trees in front of that area. But they are both very slow in putting on leaves in the spring, so there wouldn’t be any problem with extra light and heat then, and maybe a little shade later in the summer would be useful. There is already a peach, pear and cherry on the edges of that zone, and good acess to water.
I know there are two cisterns currently unused to the north of that area with probably 2000 gallon capacity each. With some patching and piping those cisterns could provide water in the fall and spring when the ditch is shut off, and maybe in the winter for a greenhouse that could get attached to the chicken coop. I also imagine getting Bernie’s 1000 gallon stainless steel tank up there for rain and snow water catchment for drinking.
The chicken coop is really a mansion for those 7 chickens, so I am thinking of adding goats, or more chickens eventually.
As I gather a number of seeds I realize the need for a tree/shrub nursery somewhere. I have been using the peach tree of late, but need a good established area. Dappled sun would be great. Perhaps under the hackberry and ash trees, boarding the garden. That’s perfect zone 1 spot to nurture the baby plants. Ill have to do a lot of wood clean up, but was planning that anyway as soon as I set up my teepee in that zone.
I can already tell that if Im living there it will be much easier and more inspiring to do the necessary changes to the landscape there. The more I think about it the more sense it makes, it feels much more like the heart of the land there, central and much more sheltered than other areas. It doesn’t boarder the main paved road, which I really don’t like working by, but would get a little less sun in the afternoons because of the rim of the mesa. However that may be offset by an increase in ambient temperature from its sheltered nature, unless it is a trap for cold air. Probably much less wind too.
There is going to be a lot of soil building needed in that area as it has never been worked and is mostly clay dust. Thorough sheet mulching would be a great approach. Something to accomplish this spring if possible, with some ground cover plantings as well. There is already a small shrub established with day lilies and garlic under the peach tree. There are also some other flowers that come up in that zone, so Ill want to wait for them before mulching everything under.
Will have to do some design to integrate a greenhouse with the chicken coop.
The area I’m currently prepping for a garden will still be a great zone 2/3 spot for larger crops.
Time for some design work in Photoshop!
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