Well let's start at the beginning!
First before you can garden by the moon you need a bit of land. This is as simple as your back garden, an allotment or why not fight back for the Earth and reclaim some urban land for nature! "A Taste of the Future" was a campaign run by the Women's Environment Network (www.wen.org.uk) in Tower Hamlets in London where people got together and began to grow their own food. If the wimmin there can do it anyone can!! There are plenty of shows on tv where old bits of wasteland are transformed into beautiful spaces so lets get to it!!
The basics of all gardening begin with looking after the soil. Good fertile soil is the essential requirement for any plant growth so if you are reclaiming wasteland you need to replenish the soil with compost or sand or both depending on what your growing. As you grow you will have natural sources of compostable materials that will supply an everlasting source of compost. A compost heap is an essential requirement to any garden and in addition to that careful picking of leafy crops, where the outside leaves are used as a mulch,can be used to protect the soil around plants. The use of ground cover crops or herbs and letting the "weeds" that grow become useful protection of the soil are also good ways of working the soil in harmony with the Earth. You can also grow specific crops for mulching or compost such as Comfrey. The deep tap root that this plant has will let the air reach the roots of other plants as it grows nearby. Fallow land has been a trick of the trade to farmers for eternity and the idea of crop rotation is a great idea to include the plant's natural ways and avoid overstretching the soil's capabilities. There is a natural order to the rotation whereby the least hungry of all crops is grown first and followed by a crop that requires very different qualities from the soil. For example if the crop takes lots of nitrogen from the soil you can follow it by a crop that restores this aspect of the soil nutrition such as beans or legumes. A specific crop to return goodness to the soil such as clover can be grown which would let all the nitrogen be ploughed back into the soil. The most hungry of all crops is the Brassica's such as cabbage, cauliflower or broccili and in the rotation this always comes just before the fallow crop to allow the fallow time to restore all the soil's nutrition.
Another little trick of growing crops is companion planting. This is all to do with attracting favourable insects to the environment of your garden. Garlic attracts ladybirds and when grown with roses will help keep aphids at bay. Nasturtiums are a flower that helps bring good fertilizing insects to the garden. In addition to this the flowers and leaves of Nasturtium can be eaten as salad!! Check out this Companion Guide for more information!
Well I hope this little post has helped you be inspired to work the land for yourself! Happy Gardening!
