I'm looking for the best book for next year to plant and harvest with the signs as a experiment. My Grandparents went by the signs, don't plant during the posey women my one Gma would say.

Anyone still do this? Anyone have stories about things going wrong when you didn't follow the signs? Anyone think it's a bunch of nonsense lol? Thanks,


Jeff

The Foxfire book has a lot of information about what to plant on what signs. My neighbor always plants by the signs and always grows a really good garden and corn or potato patch.

The Old Farmer's Almanac comes out every fall and goes over when to plant what, by the signs.

I'd be interested to see how your experiment goes!

Thanks and I'm thinking of trying something. I was always told not to put up kraut in crocks if the signs were below the heart. I think I'll try some when the sign is in the feet, the worst time to do it. A small batch lol.

I worked on a ranch when I was in high school 55 years ago,and the ranch foreman would castrate, worm, dehorn and brand by the proper sign. If the sign wasn’t right we couldn’t do it.

I had a great aunt that came from the Ozark hills and she always planted by the signs, always had a heck of a garden. I believe it works but don’t know how.

It probably works because people who plant gardens by the "signs" know how to plant a garden regardless of what the signs are.

Do I believe its nonsense? Do I believe you can wrap a wire around a rod and put a charge to it and it pick up another piece of metal, well yes.
Do I believe there can be a gravitational force strong enough to move a whole ocean of water, well yes. Do I think that even the stars could fight against Sisera , well yes.
Do I think a gravitation force could be strong enough to possibly affect the fluids on a persons brain , some more than others, thus a real lunatic. Could gravity cause blood to move in the body differently at times, well yes.

When I used to cut pigs at 30# I always cut them when the sign was going down below the heart. Result less swelling. After I starting cutting at 2 days I went by 2 days and not the sign.
I had a bunch of Russian olives or autumn olives near a water source that I didn't want to use triclopyr . If you pull them and leave a tiny root in the ground it will grow back, so neighbor told me to cut them with the sign in the feet and brush them with cream and salt in Aug or Sept when the sap is starting to go down. It worked on about 3/4 of them and the next year I got the rest.

I think it as all mechanical and not a spirit thing. Its a creature thing and not a creator thing.

My grand parents and mom tried to always plant in the sign but when I started farming and I had a lot to plant between rains and such I told them I had to plant here on earth and not on the moon. Its just another one of life's mysteries, but its probably more reliable than politics and its bedfellows !

I think the more important aspect to look at is know which of your plants or seeds are photo period driven or heat unit driven. I spent many years and plantings trying to rush things and sure you can grow stuff but there is a price to pay in quantity and quality. I used to want my stuff early and now have more patience and crops do better. Once one tunes into what is occuring around you with native plants then following their lead with most garden veggies and fruits will fall into place as well. I am also finding that seed sources and even plant sources is huge as germination and growth for some are marginal. For some reason I find that plants started in our area do much better than plants that are brought in from further away. It must have something to do with local habitats, diseases, soil etc. but I don't know exactly why.

Bryce

That's some interesting stuff y'all. Like I mentioned earlier my Gma would say not to plant in the posey women because you'll get more leaf/vine then veggies. I dpersonally think there's something to it, moon phases and what not

I'd like to study up on it this winter and try some things next year.

The one factor I want to point out is that if you use any chemicals, you cannot go "by the signs" since you have altered the organic makeup of what makes the signs so reliable. I actually recommend before "going by the signs" to learn all of the native plant species and naturalized ones in the area you want to plant along with your neighbors, the road etc. This will give you best idea without knowing the month, but there is always a cyclic rate due to how plants work and fruit. Like August, one of the most important months in the harvest schedule especially for foragers, since this is the time when 3-4 major wild crops are ripe or almost ripe. Every state is different regardless of whether it shares the same climate, and every area is either ahead or behind your main area, so just something to keep a mental note of.