Not so good Friday?

March 20, 2008 · Filed under Cindy's posts · Tagged Chelsea, crops, Easter, full moon, garden, Good Friday, planting, potatoes, State Fair, tradition

Good Friday, by tradition, is the day to get your potato crop planted, but with snow still on the ground, and an earlier than usual Easter, what do the experts say?

I’m not a potato farmer, but fortunately, my uncle, Craig Musel, grows some of the best potatoes around and is a State Fair  blue ribbon champ:) He also has a biting sense of humor, so when I ran the question past him, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

“I plant whatever I get in the ground,” was his first reply.  Ok. But really, Craig, are you going to get your potatoes in the ground tomorrow or not?

Maybe it’s a trade secret, because his answer was somewhat vague. Not only does tradition have people planting potatoes on Good Friday, but anything that goes underground, like potatoes, should be planted under a “dark moon,” while above-ground crops, such as watermelon, go in under a full moon. Since Good Friday is always a full moon, the alignment doesn’t make good planting sense, Craig said. Still, he has planted potatoes around this time in years past, and they grew beautifully. Northland and Cobbler are two early varieties he recommends. 

So, if Craig can get the snow off his garden in rural Chelsea, he’ll be out planting at least some of his potatoes on Good Friday. The cold shouldn’t be a problem, as long as the potatoes don’t freeze. He doesn’t think they will. But the snowstorm predicted for tomorrow might be a deterrent.