planting seeds according to moon stages???

I grew up with avid gardeners. My grandparents had a greenhouse and sold many vegetable plants and flower plants in the spring, that they started in their greenhouse in February or March. According to their beliefs, it was very important to plant seeds according to a certain stage of the moon. They swore by it! If this wasn't done I think they believed that the plant would quickly go to seed. Could someone who believes this as well, please verify for me what the stage of the moon should be when seeds should be planted? Or does it really matter at all?????

There are believers and non-believers. I just plant by the light of the sun at the proper seasons. Few serious growers are moon planters.

We have an entire forum here, Gardening by the Moon Signs
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/lunarmania/all/

Come join in!

Once when I was a child, my father showed me the four rows of bush beans he'd planted. He was shaking his head. He said, "I told Uncle Will (a truck gardener) that I was going to plant my beans. And Uncle Will said, No, no, wait until next week. So just to see, I planted two rows when I had planned to, and I waited until Uncle Will said to plant, and I put in two more rows."

"Daddy's" beans were lush and nice but had a few, almost no beans on them. "Uncle Will's" beans were loaded with beans.

Country folk always plant by the moon. One neighbor planted oats in Gemini, sign of the Twins. He showed me some of his crop, lots of double seeds.

It works.

I have a lucky rock to keep tigers away.

It works too, never even seen one around here. :)

For all doubters about the moons effect, walk down by the ocean and observe the waves then google; moon,tides. I assure you I have done ALOT of digging and there are times when you cant get all the dirt back in the hole and again times when you cant get enough dirt back to fill the hole, My grandfather swore that was an effect of the moon.

I have to say FarmerDill, I am surprised at you comment" all serious gardeners just plant when the sun allows" well I dont plant by the moon, but if I were to wait for the sun to shine, I'd have no garden at all, I do know some gardeners who swear by the moons position etc, and believe me, they are as serious gardeners as you will find anywhere, they like us, just have different methods and beliefs, so dont be so flippant with your reply,

dllfb, there are books on this subject in the libraries/book stores, I was reading one when I was in USA a few weeks ago, it was really interesting, not for me to be honest as I garden other old fashioned ways, but there are many ways to garden and you find what suits your soil, your time and your crops, so go find some books and then give it a go, there is no scientific reasons as to why moon gardening works, but some swear it is more moisture etc at certain times of the moons cycle, the earth pull on some cycles etc, but I think a book will explain it best for you, good luck, lets know how you get on so we can try understand about the subject a bit more, I for one am always interested in other ways, good or bad, that's how we all learn. WeeNel.

Wee Nel There may be a serious farmer somewhere, whose life depends o growing crops for a living, who plants by the moon cycles. I just have not met one yet. I have met a lot of moon planters in my lifetime, My grandfather was one. His family nearly starved to death. A farmer he was not. There were lots of them in the hills when I was a kid, virtually all of them were failures, when conditions were right for planting, the moon signs were not right. When the moon signs were right, It was too wet or raining. Thier crops when they got around to planting were pitiful so yes I may be a bit prejudiced. Books are fine, and yes I pursued them enough to get a terminal degree. But experience is the best teacher, and I have found the hard way, that many folks who write books, have a way with words, but don't have the faintest idea what they are talking about.

I don't knock those, who want to try different techniques. As the old American saying goes, " there is more than one way to skin a cat". I was not trying to be flippant, but I do plant in the daytime, which is in the light of sun. I do acknowledge that there are still folks who believe in the moon cycles. I do find them mostly to be hobbyists who can afford to indulge thier belief sytem.

Woh, Woh, And WOH a moment Farmerdill, who mentioned FARMERS planting by the moon cycles, the questioner said she had grandparents who had a GREENHOUSE not a hundred acre farm, she said they grew and sold flower PLANTS and SOME veg PLANTS, that sounded to me they sowed seeds and then sold the small plants ready for transplants, this they did, sowing by the moon cycles she said, I dont think either she, or her grandparents were ever intending to feed a third world starving population, but merely etching out a living by selling plants, obviously for the grandparents, this was a success as they had plants to sell to others, but was it because of the moon cycle, the heat from the sun in Feb/March, I know not, but she just wanted to ask any of us on this forum IF we could enlighten her on how it worked.
As for Farmers you brought into the equation, we are so lucky to live in fertile lands where farming is reasonably good, but there are countries all over the world where farmers cant grow crops any more, is it because of the moon, the soil, the seed that is not viable or the lands have been depleted from over production or over chemical use over the years, I know not, but what I do know is, I never mentioned Farmers starving their families due to planting within the wrong moon cycle, the folks I know who plant by the moon are happy with there crops, feed there families from the land, but dont have the land, the time, or the inclination to grow on a large farming scale, but are serious about how they garden, they truly are happy knowing they have gone along with what THEY believe is natures way of helping to produce a good healthy crop. IF it was not working for them, I feel sure they would change their methods, they certainly are not hobbyists, they are serious about there techniques. Yes there is more than one way to skin a cat as you said, but by the way you have came across, it is a cut just a bit too deep, as far as I am aware, there are so many different types of gardeners on this forum, but I have never assumed they were wrong or just hobbyists indulging in their beliefs. WeeNel.

If you go back and read my original post, Wee Nel, you will note that I said serious "growers" not gardeners.

Thank you Farmerdill, I did realise that, but we seem to be going way OFF the original question, he/she sounded like most of the other folks on the forum, Gardeners, therefore one assumes you dont have to be a serious "grower" to ask a question and /or to receive an answer that would not sound patronising no matter what their beliefs are, however, probably for the rest of the members who log onto the forum, you and I could agree to differ on the subject of replies given when someone has taken the time to Join the forum for help on gardening queries. I would hate to be party to anyone feeling they could not ask for all our help on any gardening subject. in-case they felt silly or had different beliefs. happy gardening, WeeNel.