October 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.

I encourage you to follow my PBTS page on Facebook. It’s a business page and all you need to do is “follow” it. The content is devoted to gardening, you can ask questions and share with other gardeners. Please search for @plantingbysigns and it should pop right up.   – Phil Case

QUICK TAKES

Oct. 1-3: Flowering signs, Virgo/bowels (2) and Libra/reins (3)

Oct. 2: New/light moon, 2:49 p.m. EDT, above-grounders until Oct. 17

Oct. 4-5: VERY fertile, Scorpio/secrets

Oct. 6-12, fertile signs for above-grounders, Sagittarius/thighs (3 days), Capricorn/knees (2), Aquarius/legs (2)

Oct. 13-14: VERY fertile, Pisces/feet

Oct. 15-16: Killing sign, no planting Aries/head,

Oct. 17: Full/dark moon, 7:26 a.m., below-grounders for the rest of the month

Oct. 17-18: VERY fertile, Taurus/neck

Oct. 19-20: Pea/bean sign, Gemini/arms

Oct. 21-23: VERY fertile, Cancer/breast

Oct. 24-25: Killing sign. Leo/heart, no planting

Oct. 26-30: Flowering signs Virgo/bowels (3) and Libra/reins (2)

Oct. 31-Nov. 2: VERY fertile, Scorpio/secrets

Nov. 1: New/light moon, 8:47 a.m.

OCTOBER OVERVIEW

MOON PHASES: October begins and ends with the moon in the dark phase. It moves from dark to light with the new moon arriving at 2:49 p.m. on Oct. 2 and then back to the dark phase with the full/dark moon at 7:26 a.m. on Oct. 17 where it remains until the new moon at 8:47 a.m. Nov. 1.

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. October begins with the flowering signs ruling, so that’s where we’ll start.

FLOWERING DAYS: Oct. 1-3, 29-30, Libra/reins and Oct. 26-28, Virgo/bowels. 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, Oct. 4-5, light moon, and Oct. 31, dark moon; Pisces/feet, 13-14, light moon; Taurus/neck, Oct. 17-18, dark moon; and Cancer/breast, Oct. 21-23, dark moon. There are 10 days in October ruled by the VERY fertile signs, four with the light moon ruling and six under the dark moon. I hope next May and June will have that kind of configuration!

FERTILE DAYS: Sagittarius/thighs, Oct. 6-8; Capricorn/knees, Oct. 9-10; and Aquarius/legs, Oct. 11-12. There are seven days in October 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, Oct. 15-16; and Leo/heart, Oct. 24-25. There are four days in October ruled by these two signs, the blessed minimum!

BEAN/PEA DAYS: Gemini (the arms), the bean/pea sign, rules Oct. 19-20. But we can’t be planting either now.

MAKING CHANGES: Like September, there are no perfect days for making changes in October when the moon is in the dark phase and the signs are going out of the body beyond anything that functions.

Like last month, 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 moving toward the dark. These days are Oct. 6-14, Sagittarius/thighs through Pisces/feet with the dark moon arriving on the 17^th.

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 Oct. 3-16.