April 25-May 1, 2011
Out of its little hill faithfully rise
the potatoes dark green leaves,
out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk,
the lilacs bloom in the dooryards.
-Walt Whitman

Lunar phase and lore

The Morel Mushroom Moon enters its final quarter April 24 and wanes through April until it becomes the new Clover Moon May 3. Rising after midnight and setting in the afternoon, the moon will be overhead in the morning.
Lunar position above you before lunch will make mid-morning snacks especially attractive, and fish will be attracted to them, too. Morning munchies are expected to be particularly appealing as the cool fronts of April 28 and May 2 approach.

Leaving Aquarius for Pisces on Wednesday, the moon travels into Aries next Friday and Taurus then on Monday. This dark moon will be favorable for all kinds of seeding and setting out of plants throughout the week, with lunar passage through Pisces and Taurus the absolute finest of all.
Before sunrise, Hercules has moved to near the center of the sky. The Summer Triangle, which includes Vega, Altair and Deneb, is just a little east of Hercules. The Milky Way passes through the triangle, separating it from autumn’s Pegasus rising on the eastern horizon.

The Corona Borealis has shifted into the western half of the heavens, and the pointers of the Big Dipper point almost exactly east-west.

Weather patterns

April 26 and 30 record freezing temperatures less than 5 percent of the time – the first time that has happened since late September. The driest days this time of year are April 26-27, each with just a 20 percent chance for rain. The wettest days are April 29-30, both carrying a 55 percent chance for precipitation.

Beginning April 27, highs in the 90s become possible, and the chances for a high in the 80s pass the 20 percent mark. Chances for a high above 70 degrees are now 50/50 or better for the first time this year. April 29-30 are usually the mildest days next week, with April 30 bringing a 98 percent chance for highs above 60 degrees – the first time those kind of percentages have occurred since late September.

The first week of May brings highs above 60 on 75 percent of the afternoons, and warm 70s or 80s an average 55 percent of the time.

Daybook

April 25: Late spring arrives when the antlers of deer begin to grow, when the first parsnips bloom, the first indigo bunting arrives and bumblebees come out for pollen. The first blue jay is born in the first days of late spring, and all major garden weeds are sprouting.

April 26: Farmers have planted the first soybeans, and the commercial radish harvest is under way. Wild phlox, wild geranium, wild ginger, celandine, spring cress, sedum, golden Alexander, thyme-leafed speedwell, garlic mustard and common fleabane are budding. Common sulphurs join the red admiral butterflies, the Eastern commas and the cabbage butterflies in the garden.

April 27: The garlic mustard of May comes into bloom when the first indigo bunting arrives. The potato fields are almost half planted. Average high temperatures reach 70 as cutworms and sod web worms work the cornfields throughout the lower Midwest.

April 28: Farmers have usually planted a quarter of the field corn as April comes to an end. Early grasses go to seed and Baltimore Orioles arrive. Buds form on the oakleaf hydrangea and raspberry flowers start to appear.
April 29: The first blue jays are born, and all major garden weeds are sprouting. Areas of orchard grass and rye are ready to harvest in an average year. Bluegrass can be budding. It is viburnum season and buckeye flower time. Last year’s catalpa seedpods fall in late April thunderstorms.

April 30: Daddy Longlegs begin hunting in the undergrowth. Winter wheat is almost a foot high, in most years. Tomatoes are nearly half transplanted, and the earliest tobacco plants have just been set out in the field. Lilacs and gold and violet iris are coming into bloom.

May 1: The black tern, the magnolia warbler and most varieties of sandpipers reach Indiana and Ohio. Darners hunt the swamps. The chance for frost drops below 50 percent for the first time since October.
May 2: Yellow wood sorrel blossoms in the alleys, and the first cycle of cabbage moths is at its peak. Star of Bethlehem flowers in the sun. Sedum opens in the woods. Peony buds are an inch across. Cattails are three feet tall. Maples are leafing.

Frost watch

Between May 1 and June 1, only a few mornings of light frost occur in Ohio. Chances for freezing temperatures after the dates listed below are:
May l: 45 percent
May 5: 35 percent
May 10: 25 percent
May 15: 15 percent
May 20: 10 percent
May 25: 5 percent
May 31: 2 percent

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2011 is still available; order your copy from www.poorwillsalmanack.net