Planting by the Moon in December 2027: Dates, Moon Signs and Traditional Planting Days

According to almanac tradition, December 2027 offers gardeners who plant by the Moon a window for each of the three crop types: leafy, fruiting and root. This page lists the dates, times and Moon signs in Eastern time, from the phase table to a row for every day of the month. It is tradition, not proven science, and your local frost calendar decides first.

December 2027 at a glance

The month opens with a waxing Moon, 12% lit on December 1, in the first quarter of the cycle. The Cold Moon, the full moon of the month, falls on December 13 at 11:08 a.m. ET, and the new moon follows on December 27 at 3:12 p.m. ET.

The traditional planting windows for the month are:

• Leafy crops (first quarter): December 1 (Moon in Capricorn), December 5 (Moon in Pisces), December 28-29 (Moon in Capricorn)
• Fruiting crops (second quarter): December 6 (Moon in Pisces), December 10-11 (Moon in Taurus)
• Root crops, bulbs, perennials (third quarter): December 14-15 (Moon in Cancer)

All of this is almanac tradition, and the local frost calendar comes first.

Each window combines two rules. The first is the quarter of the lunar cycle, which the tradition ties to a crop type. The second is the sign the Moon occupies, because the same convention labels some signs fruitful or semi-fruitful and others barren. A day only makes the list when both rules agree. That is why a quarter that lasts about a week can produce just one or two traditional days. For the full background on the method, see our guide to planting by the moon, and for the sign labels in detail, the page on moon sign gardening.

The sign changes during the day, so a few of the dates above are partial days. The exact clock times are in the sign change table further down the page.

What to plant in December

The almanac sorts crops into three groups, and each group follows its own quarter of the cycle. According to the tradition, the leafy group covers crops that bear above ground:

• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Celery

The fruiting group covers above-ground crops that carry their seed inside the fruit:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Beans
• Squash
• Corn

The root group covers root crops, bulbs and perennials:

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Onions
• Beets

Those lists describe how the tradition classifies crops, not what can go in the ground this month. The planting season depends on the state where you garden, and a December window in the table below means nothing for a crop your area cannot take outdoors. Start with your state’s planting calendar and your local frost dates, then look at the Moon only if you want to follow the custom.

The Moon never overrides the calendar of the place. Frost dates and soil temperature decide whether a crop can go in the ground. The Moon, for gardeners who follow it, only chooses among the days that the local calendar already allows.

The fourth quarter of the cycle has no crop group. The tradition treats it as a rest period for weeding, pruning, turning the soil and composting, and in December 2027 that stretch runs from the last quarter on December 20 to the new moon on December 27.

Moon phases in December 2027

The full moon of the month carries the name Cold Moon in Old Farmer’s Almanac usage. It is full on December 13 at 11:08 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Gemini, a sign this convention labels barren. The full moon also marks the point where the tradition moves from the fruiting quarter to the root quarter. For how gardeners treat the days around it, read about planting on a full moon. The previous month’s cycle is on the November 2027 page, and the whole year is laid out in planting by the moon 2027.

Traditional planting days in December 2027

The almanac rule is that each crop type has its own quarter of the cycle, and within that quarter, gardeners who plant by the Moon pick days when the Moon sits in a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign. Days under a barren sign are left out, and the fourth quarter is kept for rest.

This convention labels Pisces and Cancer fruitful, and Taurus and Capricorn semi-fruitful. Every crop type has at least one window in December 2027, so there is no type to mark “none this month.” Leafy crops have three separate windows, fruiting crops have two, and root crops have one.

How to read the partial days

The days in the table are read at noon ET. The Moon changes sign during the day, so a window’s first or last day may be only partly inside it, and the sign change times are in the next section. A few examples from the calendar:

December 5 and December 6 both fall under Pisces, which runs from December 4 at 8:20 p.m. ET to December 7 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The first quarter begins on December 6 at 12:22 a.m. ET, so the tradition places December 5 with the leafy crops and December 6 with the fruiting crops, even though the Moon sign does not change between them.

The second window for fruiting crops ends on December 11 and only partly covers that day, because the Moon leaves Taurus for Gemini at 10:54 p.m. ET. The root window on December 14-15 starts after the Moon enters Cancer at 1:24 a.m. ET on December 14 and ends when it enters Leo at 2:41 a.m. ET on December 16.

The last leafy window is also partial. The Moon enters Capricorn on December 27 at 3:50 a.m. ET and the new moon comes at 3:12 p.m. ET that day, so the first quarter starts that afternoon. The window runs through December 28 and ends on December 29, when the Moon enters Aquarius at 3:04 p.m. ET.

Moon sign changes in December 2027

The month starts with the Moon in Capricorn. Signs here follow the tropical zodiac, and the table gives each change in Eastern time, the label from the fruitful and barren convention, and the day type from the biodynamic calendar of Maria Thun.

Two separate systems appear side by side here. The fruitful and barren labels are the common convention of moon-sign gardening almanacs, and sources differ on Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. The planting windows on this page use that first system together with the quarter rule. The biodynamic day types come from a different calendar, which groups the signs into root, flower, leaf and fruit days, and they are shown here for readers who follow it.

The Moon stays in Aquarius from December 29 at 3:04 p.m. ET through the end of the month. Capricorn, where the month opens, ends on December 2 at 7:26 a.m. ET when the Moon enters Aquarius.

Day by day: phase and Moon sign

One row per day, read at noon ET. The quarter column uses the numbers 1 to 4 from the tradition, where 1 is the first quarter, 2 the second, 3 the third and 4 the fourth.

Two rows can look odd without the phase times. December 13 reads 100% and waning because the full moon occurs that morning at 11:08 a.m. ET, before the noon reading. December 27 reads 0% and still counts as quarter 4, because the new moon does not arrive until 3:12 p.m. ET that afternoon. The first quarter starts again on December 28.

Questions about December 2027

When is the full moon in December 2027?

The Cold Moon is full on December 13, 2027, at 11:08 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Gemini.

When is the new moon in December 2027?

The new moon falls on December 27, 2027, at 3:12 p.m. ET, with the Moon in Capricorn.

Which days are the traditional days for root crops in December 2027?

According to almanac tradition, the root crop window is December 14-15, when the Moon is in the third quarter and in Cancer. The Moon enters Cancer on December 14 at 1:24 a.m. ET and enters Leo on December 16 at 2:41 a.m. ET. Whether root crops, bulbs or perennials can be planted at all that week depends on your state and local frost dates.