Close to midnight I still do my gardening. I’ve been reported several times to the police that a neighbor was suspected of burying something in their yard 
. Fortunately the police will first ask the chairman of our neighborhood watch group and the chairman always vouched that I’m harmless and only relocating plants until the wee hours of the morning. So the police didn’t even bother to come. When we were new in the neighborhood, the chairman came over one late evening while I was digging a trench in the outside sideyard and began friendly conversation and told me about neighbors reporting my “suspicious” activities to the police . I have then grafted many of his fruit trees and he gave me excellent discounts for all of our tires, he’s selling tires and gives us cheaper prices than Costco. The neighbors are now enjoying the fruits of my trees planted in the side yard.
My mother used to follow moon calendar in her planting, I mean “FOLLOW” - never planted anything in “wrong” days. So when she had to choose between do it under torrent rain tomorrow, or after midnight night before tomorrow, when moon comes to a right phase, she had chosen midnight. She use to set her lights, dig holes, do all the preparations before dark, and was patiently waiting for the right hour to plant. I miss her so much.
I gotta say… I suspected your were talking about midnight fertilizing. LOL
Now that’s my kinda gardener. Really hard core. 
The funniest thing is, she didn’t believe any gods or paranormal or mystic things, she was an engineer to the bone marrow. But moon calendar was one thing she really respected!
I do stuff after dark. Gotta work on it when you can!
I do the same thing. I have a powerful headlamp with a massive battery and I can see almost as well at night as during the day. You gotta do what you gotta do 
The main problem I have is in prime bug season the light attracts a lot of bugs which can get annoying. California high bug season is like our low bug season so thats probably not an issue there. On the plus side its “only” 80F at night when it is 95F during the day, so that makes the bugs easier to swallow (literally sometimes…)
Always the neighbors! I have the same nosy neighbors here too. The cops showed up, neighbors reported that I was growing marijuana and they could see them thru the windows. It is exhausting!
I do a lot of work at night also. I have a LED security light shining on a lot of my trees with bats flying patrol overhead eating bugs.
TFN
Where does one find a guide on how to plant by the moon’s cycles?? I have looked and not been successful.
Do the artificial lights affect the plants any?
Not that I have noticed.
TFN
I have that info passed from my mother for most of the vegetables, she found it in some Russian source. There are two main ideas - Moon stage and Zodiac signs. There are “bad” moon days - like full moon and new moon, also any eclipses. Then, when you seed veggies for above ground parts - like greens, tomatoes, and so on, you do it on growing moon, after new moon (at least 24 hours after) and before full moon(same 24 hours before it.) When you seed something for roots, you do it after full moon and before new moon. Supposedly, in full moon all the plant energy comes to leaves, and on new moon it all goes to roots. Because of this best time to replant is full moon and for pruning the best time is new moon. From zodiac signs perspective there are “bad” ones and “good” ones too. But every plant has it’s own best sign.If you still with me, I can translate the chart I have for you, it includes 29 veggies. When you have this info, you need moon calendar - this is actually not difficult to find online.
Hi Galinas,
I don’t know of any clear reason to follow the moon calendar, but my inclination is to respect it. Notice the way that Easter floats on the solar calendar because Easter is based partly on a lunar framework- the first Sunday after the first full moon after the solar equinox, if I recall the formula correctly. Could it be that the lunar schedule reflects some climatic variation that is different from the solar schedule, and plants have evolved to try to accommodate it?
Rank speculation, I know. But Folk Wisdom has strong basis in generations of trial and and error and practical experience.
I can tell you the reason my mother started to use it. She always made her own starters of tomatoes - and it was not easy, we lived in Moscow, in small apartment, but garden was like 50KM on the train from Moscow. We didn’t have car, so we had to move the starters in a cart, through subway, train and 30 min hike after the train. She always made more than she needed in case we break some on the way to the garden. That year she has too many leftovers, so she offered them to somebody, after she planted hers.The person planted next day. All tomatoes my mother planted that year died - with no any reason, just died in few days. She first thought it is some disease… She asked the person she shared the tomatoes with - his tomatoes were just fine… So she started to look around for the reason.Somebody told her about moon calendar. She checked the date - it was a worst day of the month when she planted her tomatoes. And the other person planted it next day… This is how she got into moon calendar .
I would think there is a fair chance that galina’s mom was using a Biodynamic gardening calendar. They still publish a yearly guide, it gives best times for planting, harvesting, etc for the different types of plants (root/leaf/fruit) down to the hour, based on season, phase of the moon, etc.
I have not seen one in a few years, but if you search for it I am sure it will turn up. If not let me know and I will try to “dig up” an old one and post the publisher.
Thanks, I’ll look it up using that terminology 
It’s hard to avoid gardening in the dark, especially this time of year when the sunset is an hour before I get home from work!