Clabe and Leora Wilson always planted their potatoes on Good Friday, just like their parents and grandparents had before them.
“My Grandpap Jordan always had an abundance of all kinds of apples (early to late),” Leora wrote in her memoir, “berries of all kinds, plums, every fruit that would grow in Iowa. His apple bins in the basement were always full in the fall and he gave away fruit for the picking. I don’t think he ever sold any. He always had a wonderful vegetable and early garden. He planted by the Moon Signs.”
From Leora’s Dexter Stories: “Each house the Wilsons lived in had a good-sized garden spot. Leora was glad to see wrinkled rhubarb leaves emerge at the new place in the spring, about planting time for onion sets and lettuce seed. They sowed “by the moon,” checking for the best dates to plant each crop. Dates were listed in The Old Farmer’s Almanac, but basically crops that matured below ground were to be planted in the dark of the moon or when it was waning, and crops that ripened above the soil should be planted when the moon was waxing or nearly full. Sprouted potatoes, saved from the year before, were cut in quarters, then nestled into the soil on Good Friday, according to The Almanac.”
But is it just folklore or tradition, or is there something to planting crops by the moon’s phases?
The basic idea is that the phases of the Moon affect plant growth. Just as its gravitational pull causes tides to rise and fall, it also affects moisture in the soil.
It’s said that seeds absorb more water during the full Moon and the new Moon when more moisture is pulled to the soil surface. This causes seeds to swell, resulting in greater germination and better-established plants. Well, what do you know?
The date of Easter is calculated each year as the first Sunday after the full Moon on or after the spring equinox, so on Good Friday the moon is waning. So that’s why my ancestors planted their potatoes that day.
Do you know anyone who still gardens by the suggested dates in The Old Farmer’s Almanac?