I can hear her shaky voice like it was yesterday, “You need to get your taters in the ground tomorrow, ’cause the signs is right’.”
The last “Granny Woman” of our family, my ‘Mamaw’ served as a wealth of knowledge for most everything we encountered in our West Virginia community, and in the springtime, folks from all over the holler would seek her advice regarding when to plant their gardens. She was a firm believer in “planting by the signs”.
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My grandad always said don't put seeds in the soil or seedlings in the ground until the lilacs bloom.
ReplyDeleteSome he told me should be planted the next full moon after that.
He also had a timetable for some that was after the robins started nesting.
My dad believed that these "signs" were things wherein nature, being happy with hours of sunlight, temps and other factors decided to bloom the flowers/nest/etc. We simply used those as indicators.
My mother, who knew more about growing things than anybody else in the family, planted by the signs.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was the one who could not only tell when to plant, but she could predict the weather better than the TV Meteorologist ever could.
ReplyDeleteNow, I think that the TV guy could give her a run for her money, with the technology that they have. But she always knew when rain was coming. It had to do with the way the Maple leaves turned over in the wind, showing their light colored underside.
Since the broccoli I planted last year didn't do very well, but is coming back this year, I reckon it is time to plant. My problem is that I can still get a hard freeze in May and first frost in late August/early September.
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