I’m late getting this post up and I do apologize for not getting up yesterday.
Today we are going to take a look at what the Master Gardener did next. Just in case you are wondering what version of the Bible I am using, it is the King James Version.
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Here the Master Gardener is working on the sun, moon, stars and galaxy so that we have nights, days, months, years, seasons and signs. They day begins at sunset on one day and ends at sunset the next day. Which in our world thinking today, the day begins at 12:01 a.m. and ends at midnight.
Observing where the sun hits your garden is important. The suns position changes during the days, months and seasons. Plants need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight a day in order to be happy and productive just like we need sunlight every day. Here is link where you can type in your city; state and country to see how the sun affects your garden CLICK HERE. Watch it throughout the year and make necessary changes. For example, in our summer here in Phoenix, AZ, our garden sits in direct full sun. Full sun in our area, is too much sun for our garden. So we have to help it during the summer.
A couple different things we have done in the past to help our garden in the summer is shade cloth and water. Each one reduces the heat stress on the plants. It is very difficult to shade tall plants, such as Sunflower and Corn. However, in the summer corn and sunflowers can be planted on the south and west parts of your garden to help shade the other plants. Corn and sunflowers do really well in full sun.
I’ll give you a specific example of what not to do. My husband asked me to order some berries so that he can plant them against the fence. So I ordered them, as any good wife would do. Then I asked him, “Did you happen to notice whether or not they would be getting enough sun?” The answer I got was “no”. Berries need a minimum of six hours of sun a day with afternoon shade in our area. I’ve included a couple photos of the area. It is not complete as of yet and when we get it complete, I will do another update. The berries arrive in January.
This area will have rainwater that drains to the area to conserve water as much as possible. We will be removing the fence and replacing it with lattice, so that the berries receive enough sunlight.
Another thing that I would like to share is planting by the New Moon. I get 100% seed germination when I start my seeds on a New Moon day. We get one New Moon day a month, so you will want to find out what those dates are, so that you can use seeds more productively.
I love finding all these nuggets of instructions that God has left us for teaching, correcting or rebuking.
Be blessed until next time.
Garden Journal 