Annie,

I have made notes. This is fantastic info. Would you please continue this trend/schedule? I would LOVE to follow it. My Grandma used to know all the right times to do this, to plant that, etc. Really appreciate it.

~Natalie

Thanks, Annie.

I have notes on my calendar now........and will try to follow through.

I love this!!
Some of my gardening friends and I have been trying to plant with the phases of the moon - you've got it all scheduled out for us - only better !!
Do you follow the same schedule for starting seed in containers as you do sowing directly into the ground?

I use the same methods whether I start seeds in pots and flats or sow directly in the garden.

Does it really make a difference? Well, for example, today the moon was still in Taurus, a good 2nd choice sign that is fertile with its strengths in the legs and feet (stems and roots), so I took the liberty of digging up a few seedling Phanick phlox that had seeded themselves in a garden path and transplanted these little darlings to other beds. It was very windy today, but they did not wilt and I did not get them watered immediately. I checked them a few hours later and they looked perky and strong, like they had grown in their new locations. Yes, it really does make a difference.
So, yes, I for one am sold on Astrological Gardening.

sweetannie4u

Kooowel ... a lady who reads plant horoscopes :-)

Edna,
You are just so cute!
I love your mind and heart my Irish-Cherokee sister.

sweetannie4u
"sagewoodspirit"

I first learned about astrological gardening back in the early 1970s from author Louise Riotte, who was a ghost writer for Organic Gardening. At that time, I was living in Louisiana. She also was the author of many original book publications. In the back of her early books and original publications, there was a section with her home address and phone number. She welcomed letters and phone calls and loved to talk "gardening". I learned much from her back then and I still reference her books. She was such a darling old lady - home-grown and plain spoken. She was such a character - she almost always had her hair done up in pin-curls and even posted her photo in some of her publications with her hair like that. :)

Astrological Gardening: The Ancient Wisdom of Successful Planting & Harvesting by the Stars
- Astrological gardening has been practiced for centuries, and author Louise Riotte's 40 years of planetary planting have confirmed its usefulness. She identifies ideal astrological conditions for planting and harvesting a wide range of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

Here is some information I found about her on the web:

Astrological gardening has been practiced for centuries, and author Louise Riotte's 40 years of planetary planting have confirmed its usefulness. She identifies ideal astrological conditions for planting and harvesting a wide range of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

Author Biography:
Beloved Storey author and life-long gardener Louise Riotte passed away in 1998 at the age of 89. She wrote 12 books on gardening, companion planting, and garden lore, among them the ever-popular Carrots Love Tomatoes, which has sold approximately 515,000 copies. Her father taught her to believe in and practice astrology, while her mother was a practicing herbalist. Together they inevitably influenced her life and her books, Roses Love Garlic, Astrological Gardening, Sleeping with a Sunflower, Catfish Ponds & Lily Pads, and her most recent book, Raising Animals by the Moon. Her own line drawings are included in all her books. Before authoring books, Riotte was a ghost writer for Simon & Schuster and for Jerry Baker's radio gardening show, and she wrote a number of articles for Organic Gardening as well. Riotte took pride in her garden near her home in Ardmore, Oklahoma, which her son Eugene helped care for in her later years.

She also wrote:
The Complete Guide to Growing Berries and Grapes;
Success with Small Food Gardens;
Grow the Best Grapes
Grow the Best Strawberries: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-190
Planetary Gardening: A Guide to Organic Gardening by the Signs of the Zodiac

and probably more that I don't even know about.

Below is a LINK to a website that pays Tribute to Louise.
I hope you will buy her books and treasure them as much as I do mine.

~Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening by Astrology

I bought Carrots Love Tomatoes this past fall. I've read it three times now.

Annie,

Your post intrigued me, so I did some reading and ordered 3 of Louise's books off Amazon this morning. I can't wait to get them!
I ordered Astrological Gardening, Carrots Love Tomatoes, and Roses Love Garlic.

Mindy

Back in the early 1980s, I joined the Rodale Book Club and got many great books through them.

Other things that Louise wrote:

How to Build a Pond for Food and Fun 32 pages of instructions and information - Storey books Country Wisdom series, released through Rodale books. This is a great little information-packed booklet.

Gardening in Clay Soil - also a small booklet, publ, by Storey Books in Storey Country Wisdom

I remember her saying that in the 1970s her most ardent followers were the "Hippies" and all those who prescribed to "getting back to the basics" philosophy of growing your own in a sustainable way. She was greatly amused (and secretly delighted) by these "young people" who were her biggest fans. She got many letters from them. She personally answered EVERY letter back then.

In the mid 1990s, she and her son, Eugene, built a new pond on the family property. She was age 84 or there abouts at the time. Her book, Catfish Ponds & Lily Pads was the result of that experience and was released in 1997. What an amazing lady!

I have yet to get her last book, Raising Animals by the Moon, which I believe was published post-humus in 1999. That is a must-have book for my collection and use.
Here are the FUN chapters in this book:

1. Cosmic Clocks of Fur, Fin and Feather.
2. Capricorn, or Getting Your Goat.
3. Venus, the Bee Star.
4. Libra, for Beautiful birds
5. The Rabbit, the Symbol of the Moon.
6. The Sign of Leo "For Little Lions".
7. Sirius, The Dog Star.
8. The Square of Pegasus.
9. Taurus, The Bull.
10. The Sign for Swine.
11. Aries, the Sign of the Ram.
12. Neptune Rules Pisces.
12. Medicinal Herbs for Animals

The Contents of this book alone are worthy of every gardener, especially those who are also small livestock homesteaders as were the earliest original Cottagers, and even those who have large farms and ranches.

The word Zodiac comes from the ancient Greek word, zodiskos, meaning "(a circle) of animals". A circle has no beginning or end - Nature is cyclical, as the tides, the seasons, the weather and all living things on earth. We are affected by the sun, the moon and the stars (planets) and whether we know it or not, all living creatures are governed by them.

~sweetannie4u
who wants a flock of snowy white doves to fly around in her cottage garden.

"There shall be Signs in the Sun,
and in the Moon, and in the Stars." - Luke 21:25

Annie ~ I love your post, and when I read some titles of the books by Louise Riotte, I thought I have Roses Love Garlic, and Carrots Love Tomatoes. I jumped up from my chair and went to one group of books, when DH asked what I was doing and I told him. I went to another bookcase and there they were. In the front of both books I wrote the date I got them, where and how much I paid. From the local flea market, 2 Feb. 92 and I paid 50 cents each. I glanced through them at the time. Now that I am more into gardening I plan to read both of these to see what goodies I can glean from them. Thank you for this post and bringing up this neat lady. I saved her picture and will put one in each book.

Hugs and happy astrological gardening ~ FlowerLady ~ who wishes to be a better gardener.

Annie, I was a Rodale fan too and have many of their gardening books that I still use. I am amused by the Green Movement.......back then they called it Organic Gardening and Farming! Today they seem to think they invented the concept of living economically, recycling, not poisoning the earth and living a sustainable lifestyle.

Well, I guess every generation thinks that way, Glenda.

If you read Louise's books, you will find that her great-great-grandfather (or was it her great-great-great-grandfather) back in the old country practiced these same methods of gardening. In fact, he was famous (back then) for many of his "discoveries & methods" and is considered by some to have been the father of Organic & Intensive gardening methods & practices. (Louise came from a long line of phenomenal people).
In the Colonial days in America, Organic gardening, Astrological gardening and Zodiac animal husbandry (known by other names back then) was the method practiced by everyone. Jefferson's and Washington's famous estates and gardens were an example of those methods. Jefferson's vegetable plot was gigantic, but nothing short of BEAUTIFUL in both design and function. "Vegetable Knot Garden" or POTTAGER is what comes to my mind whenever I think about his vegetable-herb plot, but it was acres in size with flowers too. They did not plant their gardens in narrow, straight, parallel rows, as became the practice later.

My Cottage Gardening Plans:
Aquarius's weakness is supposed to be in the legs and knees. Man! Does that fit this Aquarian to the T.
I have terrible trouble with my feet and legs, particularly in my knees, and have since childhood. I even got a slight case of Polio when I was 7 years old. It was very painful. But today, that lifelong weakness in my legs has once again has reared its UGLY head. I have something wrong with my right leg. I went to the doctor yesterday and had x-rays and etc done. The arthritis has greatly increased in that knee. But I have to go to the hospital on Monday for more tests and have a ultrasound & doppler to check for possible clots. So, to make that long story short, I am gimped up today. Hurts too much just to sit, but it hurts too much to stand and walk. Perplexing situation!
So, I am contemplating my ability to go out and plant as per plans. However, I can probably manage with a cane to sow the lettuce & radishes around my roses and sprinkle the seeds of CA poppies and Rose Campion in the garden before it starts to rain.
I better hurry! I can hear the thunder rumbling off in the distance and the sky is darkening fast! Yikes!

Later dudes & dudettes!!!

Sorry to hear about your bum wheels, Annie. I hope your doc comes up with a good treatment plan for you. Pain is just not fun.

ThinMan

My bad grammar!
Not "a unltrasound", but an ultrasound!
Man.

Also, I will not be planting radishes - not until the dark of the moon. Don't why I wrote that. Igiot.

I am a begainner with planning, and I need information in how to plan proper, I plan last year, and some thing did'nt come up and some thing growed but did not bear any thing. So I know there is some thing to do with planning on the right days I learn my lesson, so please help me.
If U could send me information tru- the mail it would help me even the more 929 Barney Coe Rd. Kelly, NC 28448