July 25-31, 2011
You travel and you see this creeping harvest, this ripeness of August building toward the ripeness of Autumn, the vast harvest yet to come.
-Hal Borland

Lunar phase and lore

The Touch-me-not Moon, waning throughout the period, becomes the new Ragweed Moon at 1:40 a.m. July 30. Ragweed time reintroduces heavy pollen counts across North America, accompanied by more humidity and heat.
Late summer harvest begins while the Ragweed Moon wanes, with garden vegetables and fruits overwhelming farmers’ markets as monarch butterflies start their journey to Mexico.

Rising before dawn and setting before sundown, the new moon will move overhead around noon, making midday the best lunar time for fishing (and making midnight the second-best time), especially as the July 28 and Aug. 4 cool fronts approach. Late-summer planting of collards, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and kale will be favored as the dark moon waxes through Cancer July 27-29.

The night of July 28-29 brings the Delta Aquarid meteors in the southeastern sky after midnight. On July 29-30, look for the Capricornid meteors in Capricorn, a little further south than you found the Aquarids. The dark moon at the end of July will favor meteor watchers.

Weather patterns

Five years in 10, at least one afternoon in the 70s follows the late-July cool wave (due around July 28). Evening lows in the 50s, unusual only two weeks ago, often occur after this front.

And throughout the country, average high temperatures drop one degree on July 28, their first drop since late January. Nevertheless, the Dog Days are not finished yet, and their power continues to hold for at least another two weeks.
Daybook

July 25: After July 25, a subtle change takes place in weather history statistics: The chances for a high in the 80s or 90s falls slightly from 90 percent down to 75 percent. That shift is the first measurable temperature signal that summer has begun to unravel.

On Aug. 1, the percentage drops to 70 percent, then to 65 percent by Aug. 5. In an average year, the first of the field corn is in dough, and almost every ear is silking. The soybeans are setting pods, the wheat harvest is over and soil is being prepared for the sowing of next year’s crop.

July 26: As conditions permit, farmers are preparing for August seedings of alfalfa, smooth brome grass, orchard grass, tall fescue, red clover and timothy.

July 27: Seedpods are forming on trumpet creepers. Catalpa beans are full and long. Woolly bear caterpillars and Japanese beetles become more common. Swallows and blue-winged teal start to migrate. Ducklings and goslings are almost grown.

July 28: Iris can be divided and transplanted now. Be sure to check the roots for rot and worm damage. Also, renovate the May and June strawberry beds; cut the tops above the crowns and fertilize. Prune suckers from your fruit trees, too.

July 29: Blueberry season is almost over for the year. Kermes scale is often discovered on oak trees this week as the first buckeyes and Osage fruits fall to the ground.

July 30: New moon today continues to favor the planting of cabbage, kale, broccoli and Brussels sprouts sets. Also, it is not too late to seed greenhouse vegetables and flowers for autumn and winter.
July 31: Cicadas still dominate the days, but katydids begin singing after dark and crickets intensify their song. Fireflies are disappearing. Thistledown unravels completely.
Wingstem, burdock, ironweed, tall and showy coneflowers, pigweed, thin-leafed mountain mint, blue vervain, tick trefoil, downy false foxglove, monkey flower, three-seeded mercury and Joe Pye weed are blooming.