Just as the season’s amenities are winding down, so is the planting season in DeKalb County.
Labor Day is on Monday, September 2, 2024, while the first day of fall begins on Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 7:44 a.m. Yet, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, summer ends on August 31 and fall begins on September 1, 2024. Traditionally, the formality of wearing white clothing ends with the arrival of Labor Day, although this ingrained tradition is slowly becoming a year-round acceptance.
Regarding the remaining planting season, the trusted, historically-accurate Old Farmer’s Almanac reads, “Gardening by the moon, or the phases of the moon, is an idea that has been around for as long as humans have been growing their own food.”
Donny Green, director of the local Farm Services Agency, said that the recent lack-of-precipitation in DeKalb County almost was a deadly situation. The last rains saved the crops, gardens, and lands, he continued.
Thanks to a recent planting inquiry by local resident Jimmy Putty, the planting “signs” from the moon are what has long been followed and adhered to by persons managing their gardens and crops. The calendar dates below are the best times to perform specific gardening tasks.
Those who swear by this method say the water in both the ground and in the plants are affected by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon, which is like ocean tides are today – moving in and out. Just as the tides are highest during the new and full phases of the moon, this theory holds that it will absorb the most water during these times.
Let it be known that during one summer of my early married life, I canned about 50 pints of kraut, but the “sign” wasn’t right and true enough, I lost most of the newly-browned southern delectable. I was too young to know the difference between successful vegetable colors. The late Ollie Womack saved my life with her canning advice and canning jars!
The following dates are consistent across all the growing zones during:
AUGUST, 2024:
21-22: Neither plant nor sow on these barren days.
23 -24: Good days for transplanting. Root crops that can be planted now will yield well.
25-27: Any seed planted now will tend to rot. Last two days are good harvest days.
28-29: Plant seed beds and flower gardens. Good days for transplanting. Most favorable days for planting beets, onions, turnips and other root crops.
30-31: Best for killing weeds, briars, poison ivy, and other plant pests. Clear wood lots and fence rows. Good harvest days.
SEPTEMBER. 2024
1-3: Clear ground, turn sod, or kill plant pests. First day is a good harvest day.
4-6: Excellent for sowing grains, hay, and forage crops (plants grown to feed livestock). Plant flowers. Good days for planting peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers and other above-ground crops in southern Florida, Texas and California.
7-8: Start seedbeds. Excellent time for planting above-ground crops that can be planted now, including leafy vegetables, which will do well.
