March 18-24, 2019 Early Spring: frost melts down The furrow in the West Wind, Plowshares glisten in the sun, The sleek, black land shines open. -Virgil The Cabbage White Butterfly Moon is at perigee (its position closest to Earth) at 3:47 p.m. on March 19, and it becomes totally full at 9:43 p.m. the next day. As it wanes through the remainder of the month, entering its final quarter near midnight on March 27, it should encourage a welcome warming at the approach of apogee (March 29) and early April. Weather trends The last quarter of March brings dramatic changes. For the first time since Oct. 22, there is a 5 percent chance of highs to reach 80 degrees. And on March 31, those chances double. On March 23, the odds for morning frost are about one in two, but on March 29, those odds fall to just one in four. In the warmest years of all, frost can be gone until October or November (but an average season brings 20 more dawns below the freezing mark). The natural calendar March 18: When pussy willows emerge all the way, pick succulent leaves of nettles for greens, and find chickweed blooming in the woodlots and alleyways. Wild parsnips grow back. Mock orange leafs out. March 19: Clematis leaves unfold beside new growth of the dodder. Comfrey leaves reach 2 inches long. Motherwort swells into clumps, and purple deadnettle is in full bloom. Lamb’s quarter, beggar ticks, pigweed and amaranth sprout, and the first periwinkle flower petals unfold. March 20: Even though the day lengthens at different rates at different locations throughout the country, equinox is still equinox and occurs at 5:58 p.m. on March 20. The sun enters the middle-spring sign of Aries and brings equal day and night most everywhere in North America. March 21: Canadian geese nest and lay their eggs. Ragwort develops buds, and touch-me-nots sprout in the swamps. Willow trees glow yellow-green with new foliage. March 22: White cabbage butterflies now come out to lay eggs on your cabbages in the milder afternoons. March 23: In average years, violet periwinkles bloom in the garden, and snow trillium and violet cress, along the rivers. March 24: Question mark and tortoise shell butterflies join the cabbage butterflies to look for nectar. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive seek insects in your yard. Field and garden Plant the first sweet corn for the earliest ears (if they survive the frosts). It is now pea-planting time almost everywhere the snow has melted. Black raspberries should be thinned to about three of the largest diameter canes, and side branches should be trimmed. Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s. Worm livestock and pets. Perform annual vaccinations and do blood work. Check hooves/feet. Protect pet rabbits from spring weather extremes. Close-graze pastures to encourage later growth. Don’t forget the paperwork for registering the animals you intend to sell or show. Cut raspberry leaves for tea. The first comfrey leaves may also be ready for tonic. In the countdown to spring, it is: •Just a few days until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut •One week until American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn-planting time begins •Two weeks until the Great Dandelion and Violet Bloom and the peak of wildflower season begin •Three weeks until all the fruit trees flower •Five weeks to the first rhubarb pie •Six weeks to the great warbler migration through the lower Midwest •Seven weeks to the first cricket song of late spring •Eight weeks to the first orange daylilies blossom •Nine weeks until the high canopy begins shades the garden •10 weeks until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind Best of the Almanac An Outhouse Shellacking By Bill Wiseman Vevay, Ind. Many years ago, my Uncle Cornelius was an outhouse specialist. He had built and repaired outhouses for years in the hills of Kentucky. He had the reputation of being the best in the area. One day, he decided to do a little repair work on his own outhouse. Aunt Wilma was gone for the day, and Uncle put new screen in the vent to keep out the wasps and small critters and also put a new latch on the door. He decided to sand the seat nice and smooth and put on a coat of shellac, and then off he went to the field to work. Aunt Wilma came home a little early and went out to sit a spell in the outhouse, and brought her quilting quarterly along. Well, that shellac didn’t dry – and poor Auntie got stuck on the seat. Five hours later, Uncle Cornelius came in from the south 40 and heard Auntie hollering back in the outhouse, madder than a hornet. Well, Uncle had a deuce of a job getting her free – I’ll not mention how. But he never shellacked an outhouse seat again! |
