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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11th – 12th
Excellent for sowing seedbeds and flower gardens. Plant tomatoes, beans, peppers, corn, cotton, and other aboveground crops on these most fruitful days.
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13th – 17th
Poor period for planting. Kill plant pests, clear fencerows, or clear land.
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18th – 19th
Sow grains and forage crops. Plant flowers. Favorable for planting peas, beans, tomatoes, and other fall crops bearing aboveground.
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20th – 21st
Plant seedbeds. Extra good for planting fall lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, and other leafy vegetables. All aboveground crops planted now will do well.
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22nd – 23rd
Poor planting days, cut hay or do general farm work.
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24th – 25th
Plant late beets, potatoes, onions, carrots, and other root crops.
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26th – 27th
Poor days for planting. Kill plant pests, spray, fertilize, do general farm work.
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28th – 29th
Set strawberry plants. Excellent for any vine crops such as beans, peas, and cucumbers. Good days for transplanting. Favorable time for planting late root crops.
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30th – 30th
Cut hay or do plowing on this barren day.
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1st – 2nd
A barren period.
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3rd – 4th
Good days for transplanting. Root crops that can be planted now will yield well.
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5th – 7th
Poor days for planting, seeds tend to rot in ground.
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8th – 9th
Plant seedbeds and flower gardens. First day is a good day for transplanting. First day is also most fruitful day for planting root crops. Second day is most favorable for corn, cotton, okra, beans, peppers, eggplant, and other aboveground crops
Official Gardening Term Cheat Sheet for 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 a 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. “Good” and “Favorable” both pretty much mean the same. However, “Best” is considered the prime, optimal days for planting seeds.
