September 2024 Overview – Planting By The Signs

PBTS NOTE: Following the Quick Takes for your easy reference we have the September Overview. All times are EDT, and I am in USDA Planting Zone 7a. Adjust according to your location. For many of us, as my late Pop used to say, it’s “all over but the shoutin’.”  If you are north of the Tennessee/Kentucky border there are only a couple of things you can plant in the unprotected garden and expect them to make it to harvest before frost and freezing weather arrives. Those would be radishes and spinach.

QUICK TAKES

Sept. 1-6, flowering signs, Virgo/bowels and Libra/reins, three days for each

Sept. 2: moon change – dark to light, 9:56 p.m.

Sept. 7-8, VERY fertile, Scorpio/secrets, above-grounders

Sept. 9-15, fertile, Sagittarius/thighs, Capricorn/knees, Aquarius/legs

Sept. 16-17, VERY fertile, Pisces/feet, above-grounders

Sept. 17, moon change – light to dark, 10:34 p.m.

Sept. 18-19, Aries/head, no planting, killing sign

Sept. 18, 20-21, Ember Days

Sept. 20-21, VERY fertile, Taurus/neck, below grounders

Sept. 22, first day of fall, 8:44 a.m.

Sept. 22-23, Gemini/arms, bean/pea days

Sept. 24-25, Cancer/breast, VERY fertile, below-grounders

Sept. 26-27, Leo/heart, killing sign, no planting

Sept. 29-30, Oct. 1-3, more flowering signs, Virgo/bowels (2) and Libra/reins (3)

SEPTEMBER OVERVIEW

MOON PHASES: September begins and ends with the moon in the dark phase. It moves from dark to light with the new moon arriving at 9:56 a.m. on Sept. 2 and then back to the dark phase with the full/dark moon at 10:34 p.m. on Sept. 17 where it remains until the new moon at 2:49 p.m. Oct. 2.

When the light moon is in force, plant above-ground producers and it’s below-ground producers when the dark moon rules.

Don’t plant when either of the killing signs, Aries and Leo, is in force or veggies when the flowering signs Virgo and Libra rule since they are bloom days.

Planting when the fertile signs rule is a viable alternative to the VERY fertile signs, which are Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus, and Cancer. The fertile ones – just a little below VERY fertile – are Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius.

If you can only utilize one aspect of the system for planting, I would suggest going with the moon phases but still completely avoid the killing signs Aries and Leo and the flowering signs Virgo and Libra for anything but flowers.

THE SIGNS: Check to see if the moon is in the light or dark phase (information above and on any calendar) before planting anywhere, or other moon-related activities. September begins with the flowering signs ruling, so that’s where we’ll start.

FLOWERING DAYS: Sept. 1-3, 29-30, Virgo/bowels and Sept. 4-6, Libra/reins. There are eight days ruled by the two flowering signs. No veggies on flowering days.

       VERY FERTILE DAYS: These signs are accompanied by the phase of the moon in which they occur. Scorpio/secrets, Sept. 7-8, light moon; Pisces/feet, 16-17, light moon with moon moving to dark phase at 10:34 p.m. on the 17th; Taurus/neck, Sept. 20-21, dark moon; and Cancer/breast, Sept. 24-25, dark moon. There are eight days in September ruled by the VERY fertile signs, evenly divided between dark and light moon at four for each phase.

FERTILE DAYS: Sagittarius/thighs, Sept. 9-10; Capricorn/knees, Sept. 11-13; and Aquarius/legs, Sept. 14-15. There are seven days in September ruled by these three signs, all with the light moon ruling.

KILLING DAYS: No planting, transplanting, seeding, re-potting or dealing with things you want to thrive should occur on these days. Reserve them for anything but planting anywhere. No planting! Here’s when they rule: Aries/head, Sept. 18-19; and Leo/heart, Sept. 26-28. There are five days in September ruled by these two signs.

BEAN/PEA DAYS: Gemini (the arms), the bean/pea sign, rules Sept. 22-23. According to the UK planting chart, it’s too late in the season for either beans or peas to be planted.

MAKING CHANGES: There are no perfect days for making changes in September when the moon is in the dark phase and the signs are going out of the body beyond anything that functions. The closest thing I would suggest are days when the signs are going out of the body beyond anything that functions – half the equation – but the moon is still in the light phase but moving toward the dark. These days are Sept. 9-17, Sagittarius/thighs through Pisces/feet.

Changes might include starting a diet or exercise program, stopping smoking or other unhealthy habits, weaning small children or animals, scheduling elective surgery or dental work – anything requiring us to do something differently from the way we are doing it now.

     POURING GRAVEL: If you have gravel to pour on a drive or road on your farm, do that when the light moon rules, which is Sept. 3 through most of the 17th.

     EMBER DAYS: There are three Ember Days this month Sept. 18, 20-21, just as there are any month they occur. I consider these to be no-planting days but there are those who disagree, so the choice is yours. I definitely wouldn’t plant on Sept. 18, which is not only an Ember Day but one ruled by the killing sign Aries/head.