Before I started the Blind Pig and The Acorn I never knew much about planting by the signs. I had heard folks talk about it, but it wasn’t something Granny and Pap ever did. The only thing they consulted the zodiac calendar for was making kraut.
They obviously believed there was something to the signs or they wouldn’t have worried about their kraut.
Some folks think following the signs for planting is participating in the occult. I don’t see it that way, nor does anyone I know who follows the signs. In fact most folks, including myself, believe the exact opposite referencing Genesis 1:4 and Ecclesiastes 3.
When it came to gardening, Pap was so busy with work, music, church, and coaching baseball that he had to plant whenever he had time and the weather was cooperating.
The first year I planted by the signs I kept it simple and tried to plant in the most fruitful sign of Cancer or under the crab as I heard an elderly lady phrase it. I saw a marked increase in the success of my garden that year.
The following year, with the success of my sign planted garden fresh on my mind, I became so involved in trying to follow the exact sign that I felt like I was playing a mean game of “Mother May I.” I was totally obsessed by the waxing and waning of the moon as well as trying to figure out which zodiac sign I should be planting under. My garden didn’t do as well that year and I didn’t have much fun either. I about drove myself crazy worrying about the signs instead of just working on growing a garden.
The theory behind planting by the signs in a nutshell is: You should plant above ground crops under a fruitful sign while the moon is waxing/increasing. You should plant below ground crops under a fruitful sign while the moon is waning/decreasing.
There are 12 zodiac signs which correspond to the position of the moon during the month. Each sign is represented by a symbol, a part of the human body, and an element of nature (fire, earth, water, air) and has distinct characteristics. For example, Leo-Lion-The Heart is fiery, dry and barren. While Cancer-Crab-The Breast is watery and fruitful.
After my mother may I year of being obsessed with following the exact sign, I decided to simplify my attempt at gardening by the signs by concentrating only on the zodiac sign like I did that very first year. Over the years, I’ve found the signs that work best for my garden are Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus, and Cancer. Those are the days I note monthly and provide free for Blind Pig readers during the growing season.
My favorite sign to plant under is Cancer (under the crab), but if it doesn’t work out to where I can plant under Cancer, I aim for Scorpio, Pisces, or Taurus.
Here’s the best planting signs for March 2025.
Taurus: good for all root crops and above ground crops 3, 4, 30, 31
Cancer: best for planting above ground and root crops 7, 8
Scorpio: best for flowers and above ground crops 17, 18
Pisces: good for planting and transplanting above ground crops, trees and shrubbery 26, 27
We still have a few of the old almanac style calendars left for 2025. You can find them here.
Last night’s video: Family History and Stories from Opal Corn Myers.
Tipper
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I’ve been reading up on planting by the signs. The thing is since the zodiac system was invented long ago, the stars have shifted since then. So following the zodiac looking let’s say for a fruitful sign of cancer, the actual star positions are off (astronomically).
If you look in the calendar pages of a farmers almanac, it gives the actual constellations the moon is in, which is quite different than what’s printed on the calendar.
My parents spoke of “the signs” in planting. They both grew up on farms and spoke of The Farmers Almanac. They also spoke of the signs about another subject. I’ll see if I can explain. You know how sometimes you will get a twitch or a tic on your face? Daddy would say, “It’s the signs of the zodiac.” He never explained what that meant. He’s gone now, so I can’t ask him. I miss him talking about the old days.
good afternoon friends, praise God, I wish I had a place to plant a garden, but thank you God for the blessings I have, today Lord I pray for Tipper Pressley and her family, Matt ,Granny Wilson, Paul and Steve, Katie and Corey, their children and families, and all the people at celebrating Appalachia, blind pig and the acorn, thank you and God bless you very much in Jesus mighty name
My wife’s grandfather always said not to plant under Virgo. He called it “bloom day”. He said all you would get was blooms. I suppose that would be good for flowers.
I don’t have a garden, only a few tomato plants in pots on my porch. Last year they had blossom rot and didn’t eat a one. I’m going to take Randy’s advice and put powdered milk and a tums in the hole before I plant.
When I was a kid in the 50’s my grandfather always planted corn on Good Friday. My job was to drop the corn in the hole. Once when I was about 5 or 6 I got tired of dropping the corn in the hole. I dropped the can and stomped back to the house. I’m sure I got into trouble but don’t remember my punishment.
Sandra, remember I have never tried powered milk, I just used two Tums or Rolaids tablets to each hole. I think anything with calcium will work.
I don’t have a garden but don’t think there’s anything wrong with planting by the signs. Plenty of good folks have successfully used that method for generations. I’m of the opinion if it’s wrong folks wouldn’t be blessed with such bountiful harvests.
Good morning Tipper. Thank you for always giving us the best planting day info. I am just so excited for it to be spring and for plowing up and planting. I am a winter lover, but I love all the seasons and I am ready for spring because we had lots of snow and cold and it’s time for a change. The sun is so bright and warm on my face this morning, even though the wind is blowing hard. This Wednesday coming is Ash Wednesday. It is the day we can start looking forward to Easter and celebrating what Jesus did to save us all. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Thank you so much for continuing to do this. I’m like pap and stay very busy. With your planting dates, I can schedule my time to work on my garden. Please continue providing this as you do a much better job than any almanac.
Thanks for posting the dates again. Lord willing, I’ll use them and plant some potatoes and peas on Monday, March 3rd. Should have planted them this week but busy deer fencing. Your post makes me think about how there is not much in the Bible about agricultural details even though farming in a dry climate was their mainstay. Curious.
After seeing your bountiful garden, I swear I’d have to go along with planting by the signs! If it did not work, I just don’t think folks would bother. I’m not sure what’s fixing to happen with deer eating my garden because of the loss of hickory tree and other fauna due to Helene. I know I’ve enjoyed not busting an ankle on hickory nuts this year just walking outside, did not need to rake piles of leaves and nuts so that’s ok, and my mountain view is unobstructed now. I’m a bit concerned about too much sun, but I see one can get shade cloths….I just like getting outdoors (cause it sure doesn’t last long) and when I grow pretty things or successful food, it makes me feel good about myself as well as looking at pretty birds, blooms and bees makes me happy…btw, that nasturtium you grew-I had to grow-it’s beautiful and my water line being dug up messed that one up so I’m excited to TRY again! Ok now you’re just getting me pepped up, Tipper. I want chickens, but with cats, I’d say not. Oh well I must be content with such things as I have…. Have a great day all and it did not snow here last night so that’s good. APPLY BONE MEAL BEFORE BLOSSOM END ROT OCCURS ON TOMATOES…
Sadie, I just drop a couple of Tums or Rolaid tablets in the hole along with triple ten fertilizer when I plant my tomatoes and have no problems with blossom end rot. I think dry powder milk or even dried crushed egg shells would also work. One of my “green thumb” neighbors told me to do this, I think she could grow a garden in the middle of a Walmart parking lot.
We use the signs to plant by too. My husband’s grandmother taught me signs for many different things. Weaning babies, kraut, etc. She always told us to plant our corn at the dark of the moon otherwise when it tasseled the worms would come. It has always worked. I hear tell people dusting the corn tops, but we’ve never had to use any chemicals in our garden. Why that would worry me to put stuff on. We do get some squarsh bugs late in the season, but by then we’ve had our fill and things begin to go to the chickens. I do look forward to seeing y’all ready your garden. My garden will be smaller this year. I just turned 60 but my ole back has a lot of garden miles on it and this is the year to cut back for a spell as we have had such abundance in the past several years we don’t need as much. I’m looking forward to a bit of a break. I’ll live through you all for this season.
Debbie, my family along with many others around here have dusted their gardens with seven dust and other similar things and used granular chemical fertilizers for years and none of us have had any health problems because of this. Back in the 50 and 60’s, my Granddaddy would mix up arsenic and water and use a broom straw broom to apply it to the tops of his Irish (arsh) potatoes. It may have killed him, he and grandmother only lived to be in their 80’s before they died.
Mother and Daddy would often have a friendly argument about planting by the signs, Mother believed in them. The only sign my Daddy and father in law believed in was when the ground got right-temperature and moisture. For the last few years around here, planting or not planting by the signs makes no difference, between the hot, dry summers and especially the deer, a garden does not have a chance. I am seriously thinking of only planting a few tomatoes and maybe a little bit of G90 corn this year and just buying anything else I might want at a farmer’s market. I saw a group of 12 deer several mornings this week in a field less than quarter of mile from my front door. I watched a video this this week where Tipper and Matt were talking about deer in their garden and a motion alarm, several ones around have begin to play radios at night in their gardens tuned to a talk radio station. It is not only cheap but said to work as well or better than anything else they have tried. Back when I was growing up and many country families grew almost everything they ate all year long from a large 1-2 acre gardens not counting the corn field, the deer problem would have been solved with lead poisoning dispersed through a gun barrel. A garden was the difference between eating and going hungry.
I mentioned G90 corn, many think this is the closest they can find to the old Merit corn. I have planted it for several years and like it. I just like yellow corn better than the white Silver Queen, I guess it’s about like arguing about white and brown eggs. I looked in a Gurneys seed catalog and they were asking $250 a for a pound or maybe it was two pounds of one variety of this new sugar enchanced corn. There ain’t no corn that good or worth that much in my book!