When should you sow tomatoes by the moon?

Tradition suggests the ascending moon, on a fruit day. In practice, what decides success is warmth (around twenty degrees for germination) and then light. Pick an ascending-moon window in the month and keep your seedlings warm: both worlds will agree.

Can you sow outdoors in February?

Almost everywhere it’s still too early: the soil is cold and seeds rot rather than germinate. The exceptions belong to mild climates: broad beans, peas and garlic already settle in there. Elsewhere, a cold frame, a fleece or a little patience serves you better.

In the garden · February

Gardening by the moon in February February

February wavers between winter and promise. Lunar tradition reads it as a turning point: in the ascending moon you start tomatoes, peppers and aubergines in the warm; in the descending moon you prune the pip fruit trees and plant pink garlic and shallots in mild climates. Outdoors, the garden still gives its winter leaves; indoors, the season begins on a windowsill.

The essentials

To sow: in the warm: tomatoes, peppers, aubergines; in the cold frame: lettuces, early carrots
To prune, to plant: pip fruit trees frost-free; pink garlic, shallots, onions in mild climates
To harvest: leeks, corn salad, winter spinach, chicory
Watchword: set off without rushing

The February kitchen garden by lunar tradition

During the ascending moon, the sap is said to reach the upper parts of the plant: tradition places sowing and leaf harvests here. In February the essentials are sown indoors: tomatoes, peppers and aubergines need around twenty degrees to germinate, which no cold greenhouse offers yet. Under cover, lettuces and early carrots take over; outside, you carry on picking corn salad and spinach.

During the descending moon, the sap flows back down: it’s time for pruning and planting. The pip fruit trees are pruned outside any frost, the last bare-root trees join the orchard, and pink garlic, shallot and onion go into the ground in mild regions, point up, in soil that doesn’t hold water.

Tomatoes in the warm, garlic in the ground: the crops of the month

Tradition refines the calendar further with leaf, flower, fruit and root days, according to the constellation the Moon is crossing. The idea fits in a sentence: you choose the day named after what you want to harvest. The tomato, the pepper and the aubergine, grown for their fruit, are sown on fruit days; lettuce, on leaf days.

Garlic and shallot, whose underground bulb we eat, belong to root days, during the descending moon: it’s the most codified planting of the month. If you’re starting your tomatoes, don’t fret over the perfect day: an ascending-moon window is enough for tradition, and the warmth of the radiator does the rest.

The gesture of the month: the seed tray

Set up a seed tray or a few pierced yoghurt pots, a fine seed compost, and sow your tomatoes: two seeds per cell, barely covered, near a gentle source of warmth. Germination takes about a week; after that it’s light that becomes critical, so press the seedlings up against the brightest window and turn them every day.

The whole thing fits on a meter of windowsill, in town as in the country. Label every variety the moment you sow: by April all the tomato seedlings look alike, and it’s now that you’ll spare yourself the confusion.

What the trials say

Comparisons made under controlled conditions between sowings timed to the moon and control sowings turned up nothing reproducible. What the calendar offers that is solid is a cadence: it brings you back to your seedlings every week, and it’s that diligence that changes the harvests.

The lunations of February (exact dates)

Calculated from the ephemeris, in London time, and rechecked every night. Each lunation has its own detailed page.

Frequently asked questions

When should you sow tomatoes by the moon?: Tradition suggests the ascending moon, on a fruit day. In practice, what decides success is warmth (around twenty degrees for germination) and then light. Pick an ascending-moon window in the month and keep your seedlings warm: both worlds will agree.
Can you sow outdoors in February?: Almost everywhere it’s still too early: the soil is cold and seeds rot rather than germinate. The exceptions belong to mild climates: broad beans, peas and garlic already settle in there. Elsewhere, a cold frame, a fleece or a little patience serves you better.