Biodynamic gardening Archives - Living With The Moon

Biodynamic Gardening and Farming: Why Healthy Soil Matters

by Jutta | Sep 30, 2026 | Biodynamic way of life, Gardening With The Moon, The soil revolution

Every harvest begins beneath our feet. Soil supplies plants with water and nutrients, but it is also a habitat for organisms that break down organic matter and help keep nutrients circulating. Looking after this living system is essential to growing food over the long term. Biodynamic farming places this relationship at the centre of agriculture. Its guiding idea is that the soil, plants, animals and people on a farm belong to an interconnected whole cycle. What we take from the land needs to be balanced by what we return.

What is biodynamic farming?

Biodynamics grew out of a series of lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1924. It combines organic growing methods with a wider philosophy of working with natural cycles and treating the farm or garden as a living organism. In practice, this means building fertility through compost, carefully managed manure, crop rotation and cover crops. It also means encouraging diversity: different crops, flowering plants, hedgerows and habitats that support wildlife. Biodynamics has distinctive practices of its own. These include specially prepared compost additions made with herbs such as yarrow, chamomile and nettle, and field sprays known as horn manure and horn silica. Many practitioners also use calendars to guide sowing, cultivation and harvesting. For a home gardener, the most accessible starting point is to care for soil, recycle organic material and observe how the garden changes through the seasons. [see resources below1]

What do we mean by soil depletion?

Soil depletion means a lack of nutrients and biodiversity. Also, leaving soil exposed, compacting it, or repeatedly disturbing it can also contribute to degradation and erosion. Whenever we take from the soil (harvest), we need to add organic matter, mulch, or compost so the cycle can renew again and you keep the soil healthy and cared for years to come.

What does the research show?

One particularly valuable source is Switzerland’s DOK trial, which has compared biodynamic, organic and conventional farming systems since 1978. A FiBL and Agroscope study drawing on 40 years of trial data found that the organic systems supported greater biodiversity and soil fertility. Their soils contained 16% more humus, with measured soil organism activity up to 83% higher than in the conventional systems studied. There were trade-offs. Organic yields averaged around 85% of conventional yields, with differences between crops. The biodynamic system performed particularly well for soil fertility and humus formation. [3]

Soil, farming and wildlife are connected .The consequences of land management extend beyond the field. WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 reported a 73% average decline in the size of monitored vertebrate wildlife populations between 1970 and 2020. This refers to population trends in mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. It does not mean that 73% of species became extinct, rather than the decline of quantiy of wildlife. In this case, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution and climate change also contribute. The global decline cannot be attributed to fertilisers and pesticides alone, but is certainly a big risk factor. [4]

Another European bird study offers a closer link to intensive agriculture. Published in 2023, it examined 170 common bird species at more than 20,000 monitoring sites across 28 countries, using records from 1980 to 2016. Farmland bird abundance fell by approximately 57%. The researchers identified agricultural intensification, particularly high pesticide and fertiliser use, as the strongest overall pressure among those examined. Birds that depend on insects and other invertebrates were especially affected. [5] These findings reinforce the need for farming that provides food while protecting the habitats and food sources on which wildlife depends.

What can we do as individuals?

We cannot turn back the clock, but we can make useful changes in our gardens and in the way we buy and use food.

Return organic material to the soil. Compost suitable kitchen scraps and garden material, and collect fallen leaves to make leaf mould. Use mature compost as a soil amendment and leaf mould as a mulch or soil conditioner.

Keep the soil covered. Mulch bare beds and consider a suitable cover crop when vegetable plots would otherwise stand empty. Avoid walking on wet growing beds, which can compact the soil.

Get to know a grower. Ask at a farmers’ market how crops are grown, soil fertility is maintained and pests are managed. Where affordable, support organic or biodynamic producers. I receive a weekly seasonal vegetable box, and I enjoy both its flavour and the connection it gives me to what is being harvested.

Eat with the seasons and waste less. Choosing locally seasonal produce can reconnect us with the growing year. Strawberries in winter may be appealing, but they are outside the local outdoor season in the UK. Origin, transport, storage and heated growing conditions all matter when considering environmental impact. Planning meals and using what we buy are practical steps throughout the year.

Grow something yourself. Start with herbs on a sunny windowsill or a few containers outdoors. Add tomatoes or salad leaves as space and confidence allow. Even a small growing project gives us a closer understanding of the work behind our food.

Make room for wildlife. Grow a range of flowering plants, retain a small untidy corner and avoid routine pesticide use. Encourage natural predators and try barriers, hand removal or other targeted approaches when pests become a problem.

Feed according to need. Mature compost and well-rotted manure can be useful, but more is not always better. Use manure from a reliable source and assess soil needs before adding extra nutrients. Homemade nettle feeds may be part of a gardener’s routine, but they are not a substitute for balanced soil management.

Keep an observation diary. Record rainfall, temperature, soil conditions, sowing dates and harvests. If you follow a lunar calendar, include it in your notes alongside these factors. Your records can help you explore patterns without assuming that one factor explains every result. But you will develop a deeper understanding how nature works.

A practical place to begin For me, the lasting appeal of biodynamics is its invitation to pay attention: to what we grow, what we take from the soil and what we give back. We can’t all be biodynamic farmers. So start with a compost bin, a planted container or a conversation with a local grower can be a first step towards a more thoughtful relationship with food and the land. Healthy soil takes sustained care. The choices we make this season can help support the next years to come.

Sources

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Why gardening is good for you?

by Jutta | Feb 27, 2026 | Biodynamic way of life, Gardening With The Moon

Gardening is often described as a hobby, a chore, or simply a way to grow food. But at its core, gardening is something much deeper: it is a direct connection with nature. When you garden, you need to be aware of your surroundings, how the soil behaves, where the sunlight falls, or what the weather prognosis says. You may think these observations are insignificant, but unintentionally, we are noticing and aligning with nature.

At Living With The Moon (LWTM), Biodynamic gardening is not about forcing nature to comply with our will, but more about working with the natural flow and timing of the natural growing cycle that has shaped life for millennia. We work with companion planting, herbal soil tonics, natural pest control that doesn’t kill the whole biodiversity, and of course, work with the rhythmic timing of the season, earth tides, and more.

Cultivate your own garden

In Candide, the 18th-century French author Voltaire describes how Candide and his companions end up in Turkey, having endured treacherous and dangerous travels. On the outskirts of Istanbul, they meet an old Turk in his garden. Apparently, there is trouble in the air, but the Old Turk calmly states that he does not care about any of that. What matters is what kind of fruit grows in his garden and how much joy it brings him. This clearly makes an impression on Candide, and at the end of the book, Voltaire writes, ‘It is best to cultivate your own garden, ‘meaning, don’t concern yourself with the world, but rather look at your own fate and make the best of it.

This is also the Biodynamic philosophy. Enjoy your surroundings, create a healthy, happy, and light environment, full of laughter and happiness. Be fiercely protective of your boundaries. Try to avoid too much negative news, politics, or gossip. Don’t wallow in division, but harness harmony, and of course, stay in tune with the natural cycle.

Stay in tune with the seasonal cycle

Nature usually behaves predictably. After every night, there is a day, after every winter comes a new spring, and with it a new growing cycle. The Biodynamic year and its four seasons don’t follow the months; they change with the 4 cornerstones, the 2 solstices, and the 2 equinoxes.

Spring: Spring Equinox 20th March (when day equals night) to Summer Solstice 21st June (in the Northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year, in the Southern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year)
Summer: Summer Solstice (longest day in the Northern hemisphere, shortest day in the Southern hemisphere) to Spring Equinox, 23rd September
Autumn: Spring Equinox to Winter Solstice 21st December (Shortest Day in the Northern hemisphere, longest day in the Southern hemisphere)
Winter: Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox, and with it starts a new growing cycle.

Additionally, we also pay attention to the Waxing and Waning Cycle of the monthly lunar cycle.

Overlapping the cycle of the sun and the cycle of the moon, which, by the way, align perfectly in a 19-year rhythm, is the backbone of the Biodynamic Gardening System, and I suggest you look up the Methonic cycle to find out more about this alignment.

The health benefits of gardening?

Let’s come back to why gardening makes us happy.
Modern life often keeps us indoors, seated, artificially lit, and mentally overstimulated. But gardening gently reverses this. Put simply, it is a way to improve your environment, your body, and your mood.

When you spend time outdoors, you are automatically exposed to natural daylight, supporting your circadian rhythm. Additionally, it reduces cortisol (the stress hormone). That’s why highly stressed people often see so much value in walking in nature, exercising outdoors, or simply gardening.

But what in my view elevates gardening is that you are moving around outdoors, plus you achieve something constructive, like seeding a plant, mowing the lawn, or pruning a bush.

In addition to exercise, fresh air, and sunlight, you are also doing something productive. This surely has to have a positive impact on your mood. And indeed we know that gardening stabilises emotional regulation and makes us content. Repetitive, meaningful physical tasks are known to support mental health by anchoring attention in the present moment. One that the nervous system responds to with calm and focus.

It’s the ‘connecting to nature’ part of gardening that people find so emotionally beneficial. Many people report that gardening “clears the mind.” This is not accidental.

Slow, methodical work with cardio-vascular effort is good for your body and brain. It regulates your hormones, sleep pattern and attention span.

On a deeper level, you align yourself (microcosm) with the world at large (macro-organism).

Aligning your circadian rhythm
You may think these are little, insignificant steps, and all of this is a bit woo-hoo. So let’s look at the circadian rhythm, which might explain it a bit better. Everybody has an internal 24-hour clock that governs our sleep, hormone release, digestion, immune repair, and energy levels. It is primarily regulated by light exposure, especially daylight in the morning (the blue light) and darkness in the evening (until the early last century, that would have been the orange glow of candlelight or a fireplace)

Gardening with light exposure:

Morning: gardening increases exposure to natural blue-spectrum daylight, wakes you up, and sets you up for the day
Afternoon: gardening supports physical tiredness without overstimulation and winding down.

Unlike screens and artificial lighting, outdoor light helps your body distinguish day from night, something essential for good sleep and long-term health.

Now, guess what, plants also operate with an internal biological clock. Like us, they respond to darkness and light, temperature changes, the seasonal cycle, and the availability of water and food.

That’s why being around plants is so comforting. These are not objects, but ‘growing beings with a life-force that can communicate with other species and each other. Trees can send out distress signals to others to get more water and food. Older trees help saplings and insects pollinate in a cyclic pattern. We are all interconnected. Once you open your eyes and really understand this awareness, you will no longer feel alone, but share a sense of coherence. You are not fighting against nature; you are moving with it and with its rhythm. This feeling is inbuilt and comforting.

Working With The Biodynamic Rhythm, Not Against It

In traditional and biodynamic gardening, lunar phases have long been used as a planning reference:

Waxing Moon — tending, planting, nurturing above-ground growth
Full Moon — observation, harvesting herbs, enjoyment
Waning Moon — pruning, weeding, soil work, clearing
New Moon — rest, planning, minimal intervention

From an LWTM perspective, these practices work not because the moon “forces” plants to grow, but because they help gardeners time their actions in a way that reduces stress on plants and soil. Planting on days when there is ‘more energy’ in the soil will produce a better outcome. The same happens when you pick fruit on a fruit day. The differences are, of course, subtle, but in a former world with no artificial preservatives, people had to rely on these differences, and it worked – without the use of E numbers, stabilisers, and the rest.

Lunar Timing: A Secondary Rhythm

The Moon does not override biology, but it provides a visible, recurring rhythm that can be used for pacing activity.

In traditional and biodynamic gardening, lunar phases have long been used as a planning reference:

Waxing Moon — tending, planting, nurturing above-ground growth
Full Moon — observation, harvesting, enjoyment
Waning Moon — pruning, weeding, soil work, clearing
New Moon — rest, planning, minimal intervention

From an LWTM perspective, these practices work not because the Moon “forces” plants to grow, but because they help gardeners time their actions in a way that reduces stress on plants and the soil.

Bizarrely Biodynamic Gardening encourages restraint and knowing when not to interfere rather than over-cultivating! Let nature run its course and come and relax in the garden, watching the birds, the insects, and butterflies who do the hard work of pollination, composting, and aerating the soil. If you kill them all with pesticides, you have to do their work, and I guess you won’t be as good as a billion other creatures!

Water, Gravity, and Subtle Timing

Plants are highly sensitive to water movement in soil, roots, and stems. While moonlight itself does not drive photosynthesis, lunar gravity influences water dynamics on Earth. In outdoor environments, this can subtly affect:

soil moisture movement
sap flow pressure
humidity and night-time temperature

These are not dramatic effects, but fine-scale influences — the kind that matter when repeated over seasons rather than measured in isolation.

To sum up why Gardening is good for you:

From our perspective, it naturally combines

Physical movement in fresh air
Exposure to daylight is beneficial for your circadian rhythm
Sensory engagement with the plant world creates contentment
Gently rhythmic repetition of movement that lets your mind rest and regenerate your brain
Connection to seasonal cycles and better awareness of the natural world, so you will be part of it and not apart from it.

Gardening won’t cure you from a bad disease, but it will act as a preventative tool by steadily supporting balance, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

You do not need a large garden. A balcony, raised bed, or even a windowsill is enough to engage with these principles.

Gardening reminds us that growth cannot be rushed. Seeds do not respond to urgency; they respond to timing.

In a world that often demands constant productivity, gardening offers a counterbalance. It teaches patience, observation, and respect for natural limits. These lessons transfer quietly into daily life: better sleep, steadier energy, improved mood, and a more grounded sense of awareness.

At Living With The Moon, Biodynamic gardening is not about perfection. It is about participation. Be aware of the natural rhythms and let nature do what it has always done best with minimal human intervention.

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Biodynamic gardening

by Jutta | Mar 31, 2024 | Biodynamic way of life, Composting and soil tonics, Gardening With The Moon, Happy House

What is the big difference between biodynamic gardening and traditional gardening? This is a question I have been asked a lot over the years?

The gardening techniques may seem similar, but what is radically different is the overriding philosophy behind it. A non-biodynamic gardener wants, on the whole, to make her/his plants look the best with whatever method is a quick and convenient way. ‘Weeds’ are controlled with pesticides and the soil is a means to grow flowers/plants, but no particular thought is given to it beyond that function. Snails, earthworms, and most insects (with the exception of bees) are not welcomed and exterminated. This will give you a nice garden but often to the detriment of the wildlife. The yearly use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers will lead to soil erosion and the extinction of many insects/worms and other species further down the line.

The biodynamic approach is more wholesome. It all starts with the soil and great effort is made to keep the soil in a very good condition. The additions of soil tonics, organic sprays, and earthworms play a big part. If a plant grows in the ‘wrong place’, it is not just called a weed and discarded. Instead, it is carefully hoed out and used to make compost (although it needs to be rotted down first as active seeds may otherwise contaminate the compost heap). Take for example the nettle. In the ‘biodynamic world,’ a nettle is never seen as a weed, but as a useful byproduct of nature. You may not want it growing in your favorite flowerbed and hoe it out from there. But you won’t discard it, but rather replant it to a part of the garden that is less prominent. Nettles are one of the best garden fertilizers and you will need nettles on-site to make your nettle brew fertilizer.

Where does the word ‘Biodynamics’ come from? The phrase ‘Biodynamics’ was created by Rudolf Steiner and is made out of the Ancient Greek words ‘bio’ (life) and dunamis (power). A biodynamic garden is managed as one single complex organism. Everything there is useful and helps to keep the ecosystem in check. In essence, Steiner described Biodynamics as an ‘ecological and sustainable approach to agriculture/gardening that increased soil fertility without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides’. It follows that bees, earthworms, and other insects are not harmed but welcomed and put to good use. However, that does not mean that there is no pest control at all. Of course, there is. But it is done in a sustainable/organic way and not as a blanket extermination program. To make Biodynamic gardening more effective, people use biodynamic calendars to harness the ‘best natural times’. We made it easy here and have created symbols for the most important gardening tasks. You can also check out the category Happy House in the LWTM lifestyle calendar (the member’s version and you will find the code in the monthly newsletter if you are a subscribed member). Once you have seen the Happy House category, just choose the task you want to look up and it will give you the best dates. Otherwise, check out the date and you will find which symbols correspond with the current date. Here is a link to the LWTM calendar.

Click here to read more about how Biodynamic Gardening works

Let’s touch on some of the gardening symbols

Composting

biodynamic compost heap

The waste from one year is the fertile soil for the next. If you have space for at least 2 compost bins, please install them. They don’t need to be fancy, even two dug-out holes in the ground with some kind of cover would do. What matters is how to assemble the compost and when you do it. Here is an article that explains Biodynamic composting in more detail.