The Beetroot experiment

This morning, after an early netball practice, I pulled into the Kumeu Garden Centre to see if they had any of the things that I needed for my compost making and other aspects of my project, I ended up getting the Gypsum clay breaker, which Sarah told me to get to use as lime in the compost, as in biodynamics they are very specific about the lime to use, either slaked or hydrated lime. I also managed to by a little tansy plant, which was only 99c and is great for protecting other plants from the elements in the garden, as well as some organic beetroot seed.

I have decided to plant beetroot seeds on different days over the next month to see whether the day I planted the seeds on affects the quality of the beetroots they will grow to be. I have chosen different days to plant the seeds on from the Biodynamic Farming and Planting Calendar, and I have chosen to plant all the seeds during the ascending moon, as when the moon is ascending they seeding will be drawn up out of the soil, but when I plant the seedlings from the trays into the ground, I will time it with a descending moon, as beetroot is a root vegetable, so therefore the water will be drawn down below the soil, which is ideal for root vegetables. Below I will record the different moon patterns, the day type, and things I did differently for the days I planted the beetroot seeds.

May 11th 2016

Today I planted 14 beetroot seeds in the trays pictured below, the moon was Ascending, and it was a Flower (air) day according to Maria Thun's Biodynamic Planting Calendar. Exactly 1 week later the first seedlings came out, and by that Friday there were eight seedlings.

The soil I planted these seeds in I collected from the bush by my house, where there is an established ecosystem which is self sufficient, and therefore produces its own compost through the decomposition of dead plant and animal matter, increasing the humus content in the soil.