How to use it

Pick your month below. In the table each day carries the Moon’s phase, its sign and the tradition’s verdict: above-ground crops (waxing Moon - greens, tomatoes, cucumbers), root crops (waning - carrots, beets, potatoes, plus pruning) or rest (new and full moon). The best days of each month sit above the table.

When does the tradition sow above the soil, and when below?

The core most schools share (details differ between schools):

Waxing Moon - crops that fruit above ground (greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers).
Waning - root crops (carrots, beets, potatoes), and pruning.
New moon and full moon - the tradition does not plant: a rest day.
Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus - fertile signs; Leo, Aries, Aquarius - barren ones.
The remaining signs are neutral.

Where the planting calendar comes from, and what it claims

Sorting crops into what grows above the soil and what grows below is old farming lore, not anyone's method: a waxing Moon adds, so it was held to help what rises, and a waning Moon draws down, so it was held to help the root. Printed almanacs spread the rule further than word of mouth ever had, while the split of signs into fertile and barren arrived from astrology - and differs between schools, which is why two lunar calendars often advise opposite things for the same date. The mechanism claimed is the familiar one: the Moon pulls at moisture as it pulls at the tide. It fails for the same reason it fails for hair - tidal force scales with the size of the body, so an ocean answers and a seedbed does not. What actually governs germination is soil temperature, day length and weather; a calendar can help choose a day inside a suitable week, not the week itself. So we keep the calculation and the custom in separate columns.

Honestly, about what these rules are

There is no research linking the Moon’s phase to harvest yields - this is folklore, not agronomy. What is real here: the Moon’s position for every day (phase, sign, exact new and full moons) - the same Swiss Ephemeris calculation used across this section. We show both the data and the rules; when to plant is your call. Seeds sown on an “unfavourable” day will still grow.

Upcoming favourable windows

September 7 — root crops: carrots, beets, potatoes (waning Moon in a fertile sign).
September 14–16 — above-ground crops: greens, tomatoes, cucumbers (waxing Moon in a fertile sign).
September 24–25 — above-ground crops: greens, tomatoes, cucumbers (waxing Moon in a fertile sign).
September 29–30 — root crops: carrots, beets, potatoes (waning Moon in a fertile sign).
October 3–4 — root crops: carrots, beets, potatoes (waning Moon in a fertile sign).
October 12–13 — above-ground crops: greens, tomatoes, cucumbers (waxing Moon in a fertile sign).

Full day-by-day tables are in the months below.

The moon planting calendar month by month

Luna reads your own day

In the app Luna computes your matrix and daily forecast from your birth date - and speaks to you in her voice, not a table.

Open Luna

Gardening by the Moon