Times noted are EDT.

In the garden this week:

• Best planting times for biennials are during Pisces and Taurus. Save annuals for after the New Moon.
• Best Days for pest control and general maintenance are during Aries.
• All days are good for pruning.

  Moon in PISCES on Monday and most of Tuesday is the best time this week to fertilize your garden. Don’t forget your house and patio plants! It’s a good habit to change up your fertilizers once in a while. Keep a bottle of fish emulsion on hand for fertilizing during Pisces. Just makes sense, right? And easy to remember.

If you’re already in the habit of photographing your garden monthly, Pisces is an excellent time to get your shots. This is also an excellent time to tend to your water features ~ fountains, pools, koi ponds, wells, and birdbaths.

Gardeners often think of their entire garden as their sanctuary. Do you have a special part of your garden that feels more “sacred” than others? Spend some time in that part of your garden daily to connect with spirit. If you don’t have a designated garden sanctuary already, just pick your favorite spot. It doesn’t have to be over-the-top or even noticeable to your garden visitors. It could be a swing or a statue of St. Francis, Mary, or Quan Yin tucked into a bed or corner. In the long run, your garden sanctuary doesn’t require any kind of garden ornament at all. It’s what the space evokes in you that makes it sacred.

 Moon in ARIES is dry and barren, perfect for monthly maintenance of your garden tools. These are also excellent days for drying or dehydrating flowers, fruits, and herbs. Catnip is abundant and blooming in my garden now. Not only does it tickle the kitties, it makes a mildly sedative tea. Try steeping 1 tablespoon fresh catnip leaves in a cup of hot water. Toss in some fresh lemon balm, chamomile, and stevia if you have them on hand.

If you aren’t growing fresh stevia in your garden, you’re missing out on a real treat. It’s a plant that could be easily overlooked, but it’s loaded with sweetness. Pick a leaf and stick it between your teeth for a quick treat. Here in zone 8 it’s a perennial herb.

Late Friday the Moon enters fertile, earthy TAURUS and stays there until Sunday evening. Taurus is always identified as being the sign of trees. Have you considered adding a tree ring garden to your landscape? If a tree is young, you want all nutrients to go directly to its root, not annuals that are sitting right above them. However, if trees are well established, adding a tree ring garden shouldn’t harm the tree. There are prefab kits available or you can create your own. You want to make sure that you don’t pile the soil and mulch too near the base of the tree. Keep soil level at the base and build up as you build out.

A fun idea is to add a face to one of your trees with a forest face kit. These are so whimsical. If you have Spanish Moss available, you can add mustaches and beards to your tree’s face. The Spanish Moss will catch the breeze, adding movement and expression to your tree’s face. I couldn’t resist getting one of these for an oak in our yard. At first my husband objected (he said it was cheesy), but then he saw how much fun it actually was. Because squirrels scamper around that tree nonstop, they were constantly turning the eyes, nose or mouth. Our tree had a new expression every morning. I took it down for a little repair, but it’s time to get it back up.

On Sunday evening, the Moon moves into GEMINI and we are immediately greeted by a New Moon and Solar Eclipse. New Moons aren’t considered the best days for planting, but I wouldn’t plant anything during an eclipse. It brings up images of pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and that’s just too creepy for me.

 Here are this week’s phases and sign changes.