It’s no secret that when it comes to being superstitious, farmers are one of the groups that lead the pack. From predicting the weather to knowing when to plant, many farming practices are rooted in superstition. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that superstitions develop as a result of experience and making correlations between seemingly unrelated things in order to predict future events. Though it may not be the case in modern times, there was a time when farming and the outcome of a single crop could mean either life or death to a community.
Any time something becomes important to survival we see a spring of superstition sprout offering hope of a good harvest, forewarning of a bad one and explanation for everything in between. Even if these superstitions may offer you little help today, they are interesting all the same. Long before farmers had satellite images and Doppler radar, they had the soil, the trees, the animals, and the sky to help them see into the future. For people who ate or starved based on the yield of each year’s crop, being able to use whatever information was available to their advantage could literally save their life and the lives of their families.
Planting by the moon is an idea as old as agriculture, based both in folklore and superstition, but there are scientific ideas to back it up. The Earth is in a large gravitational field, influenced by both the sun and moon. The tides are highest at the time of the new and the full moon, when sun and moon are lined up with earth. Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls upon the subtle bodies of water, causing moisture to rise in the earth, which encourages growth. The highest amount of moisture is in the soil at this time, and tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon. Ha ha … make sense?
Although the sun and moon both influence the gravitational field surrounding the earth, the pull of the moon is stronger because it’s closer. The moon’s gravitational pull influences all water on earth including ocean tides, lakes, rivers and streams. It also affects moisture in the soil and how close that moisture is to the surface. The Farmers' Almanac, for example, advises planting crops that are valuable because of the parts that grow above ground (such as corn and wheat) while the moon is waxing, so that the moon pulls the plant out of the ground while it grows bigger.
For instance the Moon is said to be the most fruitful when in the signs Taurus, Cancer, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces. Seeds planted, therefore, whilst the Moon is occupying any of these signs and in a favourable phase could produce more promising results than for example if the Moon was occupying Gemini, Leo or Virgo which are said to be ‘barren signs’ or Aries, Sagittarius and Aquarius which again aren’t so ‘fruitful’. Nevertheless these ‘barren’ signs as regards the position of the Moon are thought to give best indication of when to weed, destroy pests, spray or dig.
There is another method to determine the ideal time to plant. Moon gardening is the practice of planting and harvesting crops to coincide with the lunar phases of the moon. Moon planters believe that the same gravitational force that pulls the tides, the same cosmic rhythms that draw a horsehoe crab ashore to mate, also cause crops, especially those that bear above ground, to leap right out of the earth. And conversely, when the moon is on the wane and its light and gravitational pull are on the decrease, the earth's gravity kicks in again, and roots burrow happily into the ground.
Conversely, it advises planting root crops while the moon is waning so that the diminishing moon helps the vegetables grow deep into the ground. The new moon is said to help plants grow balanced roots. During a new moon, the gravity of the moon pulls water up in the soil, which increases a seed’s ability to germinate. Plants also benefit from increased moonlight during the night. According to folklore, the new moon is the ideal time to plant crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit like lettuce, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. As the moon wanes, the gravitational pull is at its highest, resulting in moist soil and decreased moonlight. These conditions are ideal for root plants including carrots, potatoes, radishes,onions and beets.
According to a study done by Dr. Lili Kolisko in Germany in 1939, the success rate of seed germination increases a few days before a full moon. Gardening folklore also suggests that pruning is best done during a full moon because it encourages root growth. Maybe that's basically what it is: a ritual of chores, a giant almanac as old as the Pyramids and the rising of the Dog Star, which has marked the onset of spring, and spring planting, since the first man, or woman, first put a seed in the ground. Are people superstitious in thinking that plants have personality? This is a controversy that continues to this day.