Wanted info about planting by the moon

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Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
I know some of you plant by the moon and I would love to hear from you about it. I know my grandfather used to plant by the moon but I never learned about it. He always planted after the full moon in May as he said the frost was done.This yr the full moon is early as it was last night and the news is saying frost for ths week so it's too early here to plant. I will wait until Memorial weekend to plant my tender plants outside.
I would love to learn more about the moon and when you should plant.
Please share your knowledge with us
 

Dale

Super Moderator
Staff member
Laurie I just wrote a response to your post and poof it was gone. I will try to recollect my response.

I will be 60 years old this year and since I can remember my family planted our garden by the almanac. My husband will be 61 and his family uses the almanac for more reasons than my family. He had a favorite aunt that would not schedule any dental work without Dewey looking up the signs. She wanted the sign to be far away from the head. Said the healing was faster and less bleeding when sign in the feet.

Our former pastor didn't believe in planting by the almanac. He said you planted when your schedule gave you the time to do it. One year after he planted his garden my husband checked the almanac and it was "bug days". The garden started out beautiful and then bugs ate it up. He didn't believe in a lot of spraying so he didn't get much from his beans etc. that year.

My husband tells people who are skeptical about using the almanac as a tool. If the moon can control the oceans high and low tide and the earth is 70 per cent water then why wouldn't the moon control the planting and harvesting of your garden and other things as well.

Have you ever dug a hole and had too little or too much dirt to go back in the hole? Ever wondered why? That is based on the moon as well. There are days to plant, days to transplant, days to dig root crop, and days to hoe and kill weeds. The list could go on and on and on.
 

Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
I guess I need to buy an almanac. What do I look up in it? I'm totally new to this but want to learn
 

Randy

Super Moderator
Staff member
I got one as a gift several years back, but when I tried to understand how to use it, it was beyond my capability. I probably didn't try hard enough, but I have had good success with just using the calendar anyway.
 

Dale

Super Moderator
Staff member
Laurie I would first look online to the almanac info that is available on the web. Then buy an old reliable almanac publication. Every day has a zodiac sign and every day is a different type of day. Sometimes same sign for couple of days.

Part of my last post that was poofed away was---usually you can expect rain up to 3 days before full moon and 3 days after full moon. Full moon was Saturday have you had rain in the last few days or expecting rain in the next couple of days?
 

Dale

Super Moderator
Staff member
Laurie hope you stay with your quest. It's kinda neat to learn about the signs. Let me know if I can help you with any quesitons you might have.
 

Gloria

Super Moderator
Staff member
I plant by the almanac too. I did have my doubts at one time and planted peas and beans and didn't plant on the right days. I got beautiful bushes but no vegetables.
My dad was a farmer and never planted anything without consulting the almanac. I can't remember a time that his crops failed him.
I use the Grier's Almanac for the southeast.
In the Griers, it has a page showing each month and the days to plant, weed, transplant etc, makes it easier if you have trouble reading the signs.
 

Blueaussi

New Member
I plant whenever it is convenient for me. I don't believe in planting by moons, tides or, astrological signs, I don't believe in astrology at all; and yet my garden thrives. I mean, come on, moon sign planting information talks about the 4 elements, earth, water, air, and fire. That stuff went out with alchemy!
 

Dale

Super Moderator
Staff member
Blue I can't explain why you have been blessed with a productive garden year after year. You may ask why I would plant by the almanac when others seem to do just as well not planting by the almanac. Maybe it's that good ole' Southern tradition that I cling to. Both our parents planted by the almanac as did their parents before them.

I do know that year after year I don't have a problem with bugs in my garden when I know that others in my area do. I don't have a weedy garden because we hoe when it's in the barren signs so the weeds will die and not reappear as fast. But that is my choice to continue on a family tradition.

So I say, you choose the way you want to garden and I and others that choose to plant and harvest by the signs in the almanac will continue to do so. I may sound primitive and a simpleton but my husband and I are not uneducated people.
 

gonepostal

New Member
Laurie---the "Old Farmers Almanac" is what we go by up here and I'm quite sure the book does have a section on "regional" planting.
I used to "scoff" at my friend when I found out he 'consulted" the almanac before planting----but he grows acres of veggies for his "farm stand" and does very well! Needless to say I started paying a little more attention to the almanac--------and had better luck!!!!
I grew up in "farming" country and all the farmers(including my step-father) went by the almanac!! I think it has more to do with knowing your areas' weather cycles and your soil.
 

Dor

Active Member
My parents and grandparents and great-grandparents all gardened by the almanacs also. When my aunt visited for Easter she told me to make sure I was planting at the correct time and sent me a little almanac the next couple of days. My grandparents on both sides had 14 children so they had to garden and my maternal grandfather had a large farm so my aunt and mother knows a lot about farming.

I am going to order the Geirs Almanac today. I am going to get my mom to get me an Old Farmers Almanac and send it by my son next week.

I still hold to the old ways too Dale and I am not uneducated either. It is just we choose to pass on the ways of our ancesters. We have to otherwise it will die. We have to pass it on to our children, grands, neices, nephews, friends, godchildren to whomever we can so that it will live on after we die.
 
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Randy

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have had good success too and I plant more by the calendar than anything else. But I would not try and convince anybody their way is wrong when they are successful. Our weather is ofttimes uncooperative with the calendar though as it has been this spring. With our trip to Californai and the really wet spring, I am behind schedule. In another ten days, I will also be attending a ship's company reunion in Seattle and that will take a critical weekend away from the garden also. But this will be the first of the reunions that I will have attended and since most occur on the east coast, it will most likely be the only one.
 

Dor

Active Member
Last year I had no rhyme or reason to my planting. The only thing that survived was my sweet 100 tomatoes. I lost all my cucumbers, squash and the rest of my large tomatoes. My mustards and onions took off after Hurricane Ike and that was over 6 months after I had planted them and I didn't want to eat them then for fear they were bitter. This year I decided to garden with a plan. My veggies all came up within 4 days. My son couldn't believe it. He said he hadn't seen bean and watermelon seeds to come up that fast. He planted some okra and purple hull peas and those came up too.
 


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