Planting Calendar from the Farmers’ Almanac
Welcome to the Farmers’ Almanac Planting Calendar, also known as Gardening by the Moon calendar. This planting calendar helps you pick the best dates for popular garden tasks—starting seeds, pruning shrubs, harvesting, weeding, and much more—according to our 200-year-old formula that relies on phases and position of the Moon. Our readers swear they “won’t plant without it.”
Learn why we “Garden by the Moon.”
The dates listed below are consistent across all growing zones. This means you must consider your weather and climate before following our suggestions. For best results, talk with your local greenhouse or agricultural extension office for the optimal window of time within which to use these dates.
Note, you can find a glossary of our gardening terms below the calendar.
Happy gardening!
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21st – 23rd
Start seedbeds and flower gardens. Good days for transplanting. Best planting days for fall potatoes, turnips, onions, carrots, beets, and other root crops where climate is suitable.
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24th – 28th
Grub out weeds, briars, and other plant pests.
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29th – 30th
Favorable time for sowing grains, hay, and fodder crops. Plant flowers. Favorable days for planting root crops.
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1st – 2nd
Start seedbeds. Good days for transplanting. Plant carrots, beets, onions, turnips, Irish potatoes, and other root crops in the South.
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3rd – 4th
Do no planting.
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5th – 6th
Plant sweet corn, beans, peppers, and other aboveground crops where climate is suitable.
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7th – 8th
Barren days. Fine for clearing, plowing, fertilizing, and killing plant pests.
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9th – 10th
Extra good for cucumbers, peas, cantaloupes, and other vine crops. Plant peppers, sweet corn, tomatoes, and other aboveground crops in southern Florida, California, and Texas.
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11th – 13th
A barren period.
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14th – 15th
Fine for planting beans, peppers, cucumbers, melons, and other aboveground crops where climate is suitable.
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16th – 18th
Seeds planted now tend to rot in ground.
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19th – 20th
Start seedbeds and flower gardens. Good days for transplanting. Most favorable days for planting beets, onions, turnips, and other root crops where climate allows.
Official Gardening Terms Cheat Sheet From the Farmers’ Almanac
Above ground crops — this term is used to describe crops that produce their yield above the soil, such as corn, peppers, squash, etc.
Root Crops — crops that produce their yield below the soil, such as potatoes, radishes, carrots, etc.
Seedbeds — a bed of soil cultivated for planting seeds or seedlings before being transplanted.
Seedlings — young plants, especially ones that grow from seeds rather than from a cutting.
Transplanting — to uproot and replant a growing plant or an already well-established plant.
“Favorable,” “Good,” and “Best” are all considered beneficial days for planting seeds, for example. “Good” and “Favorable” both mean the same thing. However, “Best” is considered the prime, optimal day for planting seeds.
