A Powwow's Garden

Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Jeremiah 29:5

Planting, growing, and harvesting your own veggies and herbs is an incredibly rewarding experience! It connects you to your land, gives you a sense of pride, is a healthy way to get fresh veggies into your diet, teaches you valuable lessons about the earth, the cycle of the seasons, etc. and it saves you money! In fact, there are so many more benefits to gardening that I couldn’t possibly list them all here.

On this page, it is my hope to inspire you to start a garden of your own. Even if you live in an apartment in the city, all you really need is a window that gets sun and a table you can set up in front of that window.

I do not live on a farm. However, we have a fairly decent size property with many flower gardens, a spacious herb garden, and a vegetable garden that is large enough to support our family of three.

Please read on and follow the links to helpful articles and resources that will help you plan your own garden and experience what it’s like to garden like a Powwow!

The Farmer’s Almanac

The Farmer’s Almanac offers a lot of helpful astrological information so that you know the best planting/harvesting times based on the moon’s phase and the astrological sign the moon is in.

When is the best time to fertilize my lawn?

We have some grass-covered areas on our property, but we have largely converted our land into various gardens. Still, green grass is nice to see and the dogs love to roll around in it!

If your grass is like mine, it grows spotty and there are bare spots everywhere. We also have a large white birch tree that sucks up ALL of the water and nutrients from our soil!

The best time here in the northeast to fertilize is the first time the temps hit 55° after winter is coming to an end. This is when we put down not just fertilizer but also hardy shade-growing grass seed. It’s important for us to have some nice ground cover so our son can play, the dogs can relax in the grass, and it just looks a lot nicer. Last year was very harsh for our grass and now, as I type this (early January 2023) our grass is pretty much the worst grass in the neighborhood! But no worries, we will fix it up with fertilizer once the temp hits 55 and it should come back to green life soon enough!

When fertilizing, make sure to use a good spreader so it distributes the fertilizer evenly over the area. Don’t put too much in one spot or it will likely kill the grass!! I speak from experience on this, trust me….

Make sure your lawn gets plenty of water afterward. The normal weather of Spring should help that fertilizer nourish your soil and give you beautiful green grass for the onset of summer! The next time to fertilize is fall, about the time the temps drop to 55°. That magic number of 55 works for both fertilizing optimal times of the year! Some like to fertilize up to four times a year, but this seems excessive to me, especially considering we have such small grassy areas. Twice is plenty, believe me!

Amish farming tips and techniques!

When we think of the Pennsylvania Dutch, we think of the Amish. And when we think of the Amish, we think of farms! The Amish have developed very successful farming techniques that give them an edge over the commercial farmers!

For example:

• April: The Amish growing season begins with the sowing of oats and early-harvest corn, the planting of tomato seedlings raised in greenhouses, and increasingly, hemp.
• May: The livestock start feeding on pasture grass. An early sweet corn harvest is perhaps one of the greatest tricks of the Amish farming trade and Pennsylvania residents make annual visits to Lancaster County to buy Amish sweet corn a full 30 days before it typically appears in local markets.
• June: A second field of corn is planted for a fall harvest, but this corn is grown to feed livestock over the winter. Planting crops at intervals allows for multiple harvests in one growing season. Following the second planting of corn, hay is made and strawberries preserved.
• July: This is the busiest month for Amish farmers as more hay is cut, threshing is done, berries are picked, apple starts are transplanted, and honey is harvested.
• August: The farm silos are filled with grain and autumn wheat is planted.
• September/October: The second planting of corn is harvested and apple cider is made.

In addition, the following tips help ensure a good harvest:

• Add eggshells in the soil around vegetables at planting time to provide calcium. Add eggshells again on top of the soil near the stem of the plant to deter slugs – they don’t like crossing eggshells.
• Plant peas when lilacs produce fat buds but before the buds open.
• If weed sorrel starts crowding out other plants, the soil is too acidic and the pH needs to be raised (more alkaline).
• Use companion planting to enrich the soil and avoid plant diseases.
• Use heirloom plantings for biodiversity and to save seeds year after year.
• When choosing tomato seedlings at a nursery, choose those with sturdy stems rather than those that are the tallest. If the top of the tomato plant becomes too big for the root system, the roots won’t be able to transport enough water to the top of the plant, resulting in transplant shock.
• An organic fertilizer with high biological activity such as compost tea, liquid seaweed, kelp meal or alfalfa meal should be added into the hole when planting or transplanting. This will provide minerals to the plant and enhance soil biology for the first few weeks until the plant is established.
• With the exception of tomatoes, seedlings should be planted at the same depth as they were in the container. Seedlings are frequently transplanted too deeply, which can lead to rot or fungus on the stem. Tomatoes, on the other hand, can be planted up to the foliage, as they have the ability to produce roots from anywhere along the stem.

Natural fertilizers

According to the Farmers’ Almanac, the eight best natural fertilizers are:

• Grass Clippings. Grass clippings are rich in nitrogen.
• Weeds. Weed tea makes great fertilizer.
• Kitchen Scraps. Compost.
• Manure. Manure comes from a variety of sources – cows, horses, chickens, and even bats.
• Tree Leaves.
• Coffee Grounds.
• Eggshells.
• Banana Peels.

If you don’t wish to use harsh chemicals in your garden, then try these natural methods!

Planetary Hours and planting

Planetary Hours are VERY important for both Powwow work and gardening! In order to calculate your Planetary Hours, you need to know your local sunrise and sunset times. As a Powwow, you will need this information to plan your gardening and planting work. See the Astrology page to calculate Planetary Hours.