In the almanac tradition used on this page, October 2026 has gaps in its suggested dates for leafy crops and root crops, because the Moon crosses signs this tradition labels barren on several days of every quarter. Root crops, bulbs and perennials get their traditional days only at the very end of the month. The planting by the moon 2026 calendar lists the traditional windows for the rest of the year. Check your state’s planting calendar first, then use the windows below only to choose among days that already suit it.
October 2026 at a glance
The month opens with a waning Moon, 71% lit at noon ET on October 1, and the Last Quarter arrives on October 3. The Hunter’s Moon, October’s full moon, falls in Taurus on October 26 at 12:11 a.m. ET.
Gardeners who follow planting by the moon would mark these windows, all in Eastern time:
- Leafy crops (first quarter): October 10-13 (Moon in Libra/Scorpio), October 16-18 (Moon in Capricorn)
- Fruiting crops (second quarter): October 21-23 (Moon in Pisces)
- Root crops, bulbs, perennials (third quarter): October 26-27 (Moon in Taurus), October 30-31 (Moon in Cancer)
Every one of these is almanac tradition. No effect of the Moon’s phase or sign on germination or yield has been established, and none of the windows promises a result. Frost dates and soil conditions come first, so check your state’s planting calendar before anything else. The Moon, if you choose to follow it, only picks among the days that are already right.
Two features make this October awkward to plan around. The leafy-crop quarter is split in two by October 14 and 15, when the Moon is in Sagittarius, a sign the almanac rule counts as barren. The fruiting-crop quarter gives you a single window, from the morning of October 21 to the afternoon of October 23. Almost every window also opens or closes partway through a day, so check the sign change times before you work to the hour.
What to plant by the Moon in October 2026
What can be planted in October depends on your state’s planting calendar. Read it in our state guides before you look at any Moon window: the calendar tells you what can go in, and the tradition only sorts the days.
Leafy crops, first quarter
According to almanac tradition, the first quarter suits leafy crops that bear above ground: lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli and celery. If your state’s calendar includes lettuce or spinach this month, the pages on when to plant lettuce by the moon and when to plant spinach by the moon give the rule crop by crop. This month the leafy windows are October 10-13 and October 16-18.
When to plant garlic and other root crops by the Moon
The almanac gives the third quarter, from full moon to last quarter, to potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions and beets, along with other bulbs and perennials. In this tradition garlic goes with the root crops: see when to plant garlic by the moon for the almanac rule, and the garlic planting guide for practical timing. Onions follow the same rule (see when to plant onions by the moon). Turnips are grouped here too, with their own page on when to plant turnips by the moon. The root windows this month are October 26-27 and October 30-31.
Fruiting crops, second quarter
Tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash and corn belong to the second quarter in the almanac scheme. October has only one traditional window for fruiting crops. Use the October 21-23 window only if your local frost dates and growing conditions still allow these crops to be planted.
The windows for the following month are laid out on the November 2026 page.
Moon phases in October 2026
The times below come from JPL DE421 ephemeris computations, checked against the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), and are given in Eastern time.
| Phase | Date | Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Last Quarter | October 3 | 9:25 a.m. |
| New Moon | October 10 | 11:50 a.m. |
| First Quarter | October 18 | 12:12 p.m. |
| Full Moon | October 26 | 12:11 a.m. |
Each phase marks the start of an almanac quarter. The Last Quarter opens the fourth quarter (rest), the New Moon opens the first, the First Quarter opens the second, and the Full Moon opens the third. The quarter turns at the minute listed, not at midnight.
The Hunter’s Moon is the name the Old Farmer’s Almanac gives October’s full moon. It peaks on October 26 at 12:11 a.m. ET with the Moon in Taurus. Anywhere west of the Eastern time zone it is still the evening of October 25 when it arrives, so convert before you plan around it. In this almanac convention Taurus is classed as semi-fruitful, so October 26-27 form a traditional root-crop window.
Traditional planting days in October 2026
The rule
According to almanac tradition, each quarter of the Moon has a crop type: leafy crops in the first, fruiting crops in the second, root crops, bulbs and perennials in the third, and rest in the fourth. The sign rule then narrows each quarter, so under this convention a day counts only when the Moon is in a sign labeled fruitful or semi-fruitful. The convention labels Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces fruitful, and Taurus, Libra and Capricorn semi-fruitful.
The windows
| Crop type | Quarter | Days | Moon sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leafy crops (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery) | First | October 10-13 | Libra, Scorpio |
| Leafy crops | First | October 16-18 | Capricorn |
| Fruiting crops (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, corn) | Second | October 21-23 | Pisces |
| Root crops, bulbs, perennials (potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, beets) | Third | October 26-27 | Taurus |
| Root crops, bulbs, perennials | Third | October 30-31 | Cancer |
| Rest: weeding, pruning, turning the soil, composting | Fourth | October 3-9 | Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra |
The rest row is not a planting window. The almanac sets the whole fourth quarter aside for soil work whatever the sign.
Why some days are skipped
Four stretches fall inside the right quarter but in the wrong sign. October 14-15 (Sagittarius) sit in the first quarter, October 19-20 (Aquarius) and October 24-25 (Aries) in the second, and October 28-29 (Gemini) in the third. This convention labels all four signs barren, so people who follow it strictly pass over those dates.
Reading partial days
Days here are read at noon ET, and the Moon changes sign during the day. The first or last day of a window may be partial. October 10 stays in the fourth quarter until the New Moon at 11:50 a.m. ET. The Moon reaches the astronomical First Quarter at 12:12 p.m. on October 18, and the almanac’s second quarter begins from that moment, while the Moon is still in Capricorn. The exact sign change times are in the next section.
Moon sign changes in October 2026
The Moon is already in Gemini when the month begins and stays there until October 2. The table lists every change after that, with the almanac label for each sign (fruitful, semi-fruitful or barren) and the biodynamic day type from Maria Thun’s calendar, which sorts signs into root, flower, leaf and fruit days. All times are ET.
| Date and time (ET) | Moon enters | Almanac label | Biodynamic day |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2, 3:54 p.m. | Cancer | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| October 4, 6:54 p.m. | Leo | Barren | Fruit day |
| October 6, 10:52 p.m. | Virgo | Barren | Root day |
| October 9, 4:10 a.m. | Libra | Semi-fruitful | Flower day |
| October 11, 11:21 a.m. | Scorpio | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| October 13, 8:59 p.m. | Sagittarius | Barren | Fruit day |
| October 16, 8:57 a.m. | Capricorn | Semi-fruitful | Root day |
| October 18, 9:39 p.m. | Aquarius | Barren | Flower day |
| October 21, 8:35 a.m. | Pisces | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| October 23, 3:53 p.m. | Aries | Barren | Fruit day |
| October 25, 7:34 p.m. | Taurus | Semi-fruitful | Root day |
| October 27, 9:01 p.m. | Gemini | Barren | Flower day |
| October 29, 10:05 p.m. | Cancer | Fruitful | Leaf day |
Almanacs differ on the barren label for Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius, so you may see those three listed differently elsewhere. The page follows the common convention in moon-sign gardening almanacs.
The two systems do not always agree. If you choose to use either tradition, note that its categories do not always match those of the other. Capricorn on October 16-18 is a leafy-crop window under the quarter rule, but a root day in Thun’s calendar. Pisces on October 21-23 is the fruiting window under the quarter rule, yet Thun calls it a leaf day. The windows on this page use the quarter rule and the fruitful or semi-fruitful signs, and the biodynamic column is there for gardeners who work from that calendar instead.
Day by day: phase and Moon sign
Every row is a noon ET reading. The quarter column uses the almanac numbering: 1 for leafy crops, 2 for fruiting crops, 3 for roots, bulbs and perennials, and 4 for rest. Percent lit is the share of the Moon’s face that is illuminated at that moment.
| Date | Moon sign | Quarter | Percent lit | Waxing or waning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1 | Gemini | 3 | 71% | Waning |
| October 2 | Gemini | 3 | 60% | Waning |
| October 3 | Cancer | 4 | 49% | Waning |
| October 4 | Cancer | 4 | 38% | Waning |
| October 5 | Leo | 4 | 27% | Waning |
| October 6 | Leo | 4 | 18% | Waning |
| October 7 | Virgo | 4 | 10% | Waning |
| October 8 | Virgo | 4 | 5% | Waning |
| October 9 | Libra | 4 | 1% | Waning |
| October 10 | Libra | 1 | 0% | Waxing |
| October 11 | Scorpio | 1 | 1% | Waxing |
| October 12 | Scorpio | 1 | 4% | Waxing |
| October 13 | Scorpio | 1 | 9% | Waxing |
| October 14 | Sagittarius | 1 | 16% | Waxing |
| October 15 | Sagittarius | 1 | 23% | Waxing |
| October 16 | Capricorn | 1 | 32% | Waxing |
| October 17 | Capricorn | 1 | 41% | Waxing |
| October 18 | Capricorn | 1 | 50% | Waxing |
| October 19 | Aquarius | 2 | 60% | Waxing |
| October 20 | Aquarius | 2 | 69% | Waxing |
| October 21 | Pisces | 2 | 78% | Waxing |
| October 22 | Pisces | 2 | 86% | Waxing |
| October 23 | Pisces | 2 | 92% | Waxing |
| October 24 | Aries | 2 | 97% | Waxing |
| October 25 | Aries | 2 | 100% | Waxing |
| October 26 | Taurus | 3 | 99% | Waning |
| October 27 | Taurus | 3 | 97% | Waning |
| October 28 | Gemini | 3 | 91% | Waning |
| October 29 | Gemini | 3 | 84% | Waning |
| October 30 | Cancer | 3 | 74% | Waning |
| October 31 | Cancer | 3 | 63% | Waning |
The noon reading changes quarter on October 3, 10, 19 and 26. The daily table first shows quarter 2 at noon on October 19, because the astronomical First Quarter falls minutes after noon on October 18, so the noon reading of that day still counts as quarter 1. To use the table, find the quarter number for your crop type, check that the Moon sign beside it is fruitful or semi-fruitful, and then confirm the day is safe for planting where you live. A date suggested by the almanac tradition is not suitable if your local frost dates or soil conditions rule out planting.
Planting by the Moon in October 2026: questions
When is the full moon in October 2026?
The full moon, the Hunter’s Moon, falls on October 26 at 12:11 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Taurus.
When is the new moon in October 2026?
The new moon falls on October 10 at 11:50 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Libra. The almanac’s first quarter, the leafy-crop stretch, begins from that moment.
Which days are the Traditional Days for root crops in October 2026?
According to almanac tradition, root crops, bulbs and perennials go in on October 26-27 (Moon in Taurus) and October 30-31 (Moon in Cancer). Between them, the noon readings of October 28 and 29 fall in Gemini, a sign this convention labels barren, and the Moon enters Cancer on October 29 at 10:05 p.m. ET.