NOTES from. the universe // strawberry moon
Nature is so much bigger than plants, people, or the earth we walk upon. It's also the connections with the sky, the cosmos, and the great unknown. This month we turn with the strawberry moon.
The Strawberry moon is so named for the wild strawberries that would ripen around this time, other names being Rose Moon, Mead Moon (a time for mowing the meads, or meadows), and Hot Moon – although if the latter is to be used then perhaps it could send a message to the sun to shine down on us finally.
This year, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be at its fullest on Sunday 4 June at 4.41am and is due to be one of the lowest hanging moons of the year; in the Southern Hemisphere it is one of the highest.
I don’t have any strawberries in my garden at the moment but perhaps now is a good time to acquire some from the plantlets that are spreading across the school garden by way of intrepid runners and adventitious roots. I think I may have donated the mother plants many moons ago anyway, moved from infant school to primary school and then coming back home again. It really is an abundant plant, surviving the longest winter and spring of wind, rain, and frost to bloom and fruit again.
But strawberries are not the only thing to grow on the Strawberry Moon. The period between now and the New Moon is a period of waning (a lessening of moonlight) until the New Moon on 18 June – a time for planting anything that focuses its energy underground. Time to sow a second crop of radishes and beetroots and get some summer bulbs in such as the elegant, white-petalled, burgundy throated Abyssinian gladioli or peacock orchid. Flowering in July and August when many other blooms are going to seed, I’ll be planting drifts of them between replanted perennials and shrubs that still need time to expand, grouping 15-20 corms at a depth of 10–16cm deep. From the New Moon until the next full Buck Moon on 3 July, is all about harnessing the waxing energy as things start to brighten up again. I’ll save the next round of lettuce, spinach, and chard for then along with sowings of herbs such as dill and fennel.
The Summer Solstice also takes place this month on 21 June at 3.58pm to be precise. A good to take stock of what is growing and what is still to come. I’ll be wilding it at Glastonbury but I’ll make sure to make a note of all that is abundant and fertile (the theme of the strawberry moon): wildflowers and barley, magic and moonlight, and hopefully, having come late to the party, a few more months of sun.