Phases and signs thru Aug. 19

If you are planting your garden by the phases of the moon and signs of the zodiac, here’s this week’s information. And again: be sure your planting now is with fall in mind.

The moon is in the light phase now and will remain in force until the next full moon on Aug. 18, 5:27 a.m. Until then plant only those veggies that produce above the ground – with an eye, or course, toward fall.

According to the signs, the killing sign Leo (the heart) rules through the rest of today (Wednesday).  Our monthly series of flowering signs begins Thursday with Virgo (the bowels) in force for two days followed by Libra (the reins) ruling Saturday through Monday. These bloom days will be good for some late summer flowers or perhaps early fall ones as we’re beginning to see mums here and about now.

Fertile planting for above-ground fall-producing veggies is on tap for Aug. 9-10, followed by our monthly series (Aug. 11-17) of so-so signs ­– Sagittarius/thighs through Aquarius/legs by way of Capricorn/knees. These continue to rule until the fertile sign Pisces (the feet) returns Aug. 18-19 with the moon moving to the dark phase on Aug. 18.

CHANGES: If you have changes to make like stopping smoking, starting a diet or exercise program, weaning small animals or children then the only perfect days this month will be after 6 a.m. on the 18^th and all of the 19^th. You just need to get started on one of those days before the sign returns to Aries (the head) on Aug. 20.

But then it only takes one day to get started.

WEATHER: And if you’re interested in getting some idea about what the winter way, one of the popular folk methods is to count the number of fogs in August to see how many snows there will be in the fall.

One of my favorites is to look for woolly worms. Folk tradition has it the blacker the woolly, the harsher the winter will be. So, here’s to finding lots of brown woollies!