April 26-May 2, 2010
The vale shall laugh in flowers, the woods
Grow misty green with leafing buds,
And violets and wind-flowers sway
Against the throbbing heart of May.
-John Greenleaf Whittier
Lunar phase and lore

The Rhubarb Pie Moon is full at 8:18 a.m. (EDT) April 28, and it wanes throughout the remainder of the period, entering its final phase at 12:15 a.m. May 6.

As this moon wanes, there will be no better time in 2010 for planting spring root crops and the last of the commercial and garden potatoes. You might as well finish the oats as soon as you can (80 percent of that crop has usually been planted by the end of April); harvest orchard grass and rye, when the weather is right.
The moon will be over your fishing hole, its most favorable position for angling, after midnight. That’s when you should fish (of course, truth be told, you should fish whenever you can).

If you are not a night person, try the second-best lunar time, from noon through mid-afternoon. The two days just prior to the May 2 cold front ought to give you the best fishing conditions of the week.
If you have rhubarb pie left over from last week, eat it up little by little over a period of several days. Otherwise, when you get up in the middle of the night, the gibbous moon overhead will tell you to gobble it all down at once. Be ready with celery and carrots in a pouch by your bed.

Jupiter, in Pisces, is visible before dawn in the east this month. Venus, lower in the east in Taurus, follows Jupiter before sunrise. Mars moves to Leo from Cancer, overhead at sundown and setting after midnight.

Saturn, in Virgo throughout the year, follows Mars across the night sky, setting in the west just as Jupiter comes up in the east. The Eta Aquarid meteors are active on May 5-6, just before the arrival of the last serious frost-bearing front of the spring.

Weather patterns

Cool fronts are due to cross the Mississippi on or about May 2, 7, 12, 15, 21, 24 and 29. Frost is most likely to occur with the May 7 and 12 fronts. New moon on May 13 increases the chances for freezing temperatures with both of the weather systems that occur near that date.

Full moon on May 27 could also contribute to cold and unstable meteorological conditions. Tornadoes, floods or prolonged periods of soggy pasture are most likely to occur between May 8-14 and May 17-24.

Between May 1-June 1, only a few mornings of light frost occur in this part of the country. Chances for freezing temperatures 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; and May 31, 2 percent.

Daybook

April 26: When you see the high canopy budding and greening, and your tulips are in full bloom, then wild turkeys will be gobbling and telling you your lawn is getting too long. Opossums and raccoons are giving birth in the woodlot.

April 27: Average high temperatures reach 70 along the Ohio River as cutworms and sod webworms work the cornfields all across the central and southern parts of the nation. In advance of the April 28 front, highs in the 90s become possible as far north as Chicago, and the chances for a high in the 80s pass the 20 percent mark at lower elevations along the 40th Parallel.

The warmth, however, comes at the cost of rain five years in 10, and the last days of April are typically some of the wettest days of this month’s fourth week.

April 28: The moon is full today, and it could combine with the April 28 cold front to bring flurries and a light freeze to the northern two thirds of the United States.

Lilacs are in full bloom now, the peonies are budding, maples are leafing out, buckeyes come into full bloom and dandelions have gone to seed. The tree line is alive either with new pale leaves or orange buds and gold flowers. There are buds on the black raspberries and honeysuckles, mock orange and mulberries.
Dogwood blossoms take over after the redbud flowers have gone.
April 29: Garlic mustard is turning the woodland floor white with flowers. When you see the garlic mustard, you know catchweed is blooming in the garden, celandine and fleabane are open in the alley and Jack-in-the-pulpit and wild ginger are open in the deep woods.

April 30: Weevils are building up in the alfalfa. Commercial tomatoes are 40 percent transplanted, and the earliest tobacco plants have just been set out in the drier fields.

May 1: In the fields, fight armyworms and corn borers. Attack carpenter bees around the barn. The dark moon also favors traditional worm control methods such as liming the pasture, planting garlic and plowing in mustard.

May 2: In the Northeast and Upper Midwest, it’s time for tulips, azaleas and rhododendrons (take a trip north to see them). It’s not too late to go to the local nursery and purchase small shrubs and trees in full bloom, and May is an excellent time for adding to your fruit tree collection.

Countdown to early summer

Late spring is pushing the land toward summer. The sun reaches a declination of 15 degrees on May 1; that’s a little over 60 percent of the way to summer solstice. By May 10, the sun has reached a declination of 17 degrees, 50 minutes, about 85 percent of the way to summer solstice.

If you check the stars at about 10 p.m. (EDT), they will tell you the danger of frost is almost past. Now Arcturus still hangs a little to the east of the center of the sky, but as that star shifts into the west, it pulls away the chances for a freeze with it.

Since the moon may exert less influence on ocean tides and on human and animal behavior when it comes into its second and fourth quarters, it might make more sense to perform routine maintenance on your livestock and pets on or about May 5 and 20.
On the other hand, tidal lunar influences have been shown to be greater at full moon and new moon times. You might expect more trouble with your herd, spouse or children, therefore, on or about May 13 and 27.

Two easy signs of late spring

If you identify wildflowers as you drive, you can tell the season anywhere from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. When you see the following plants (now in full bloom throughout the region), you’ll know for sure late spring is under way.

Garlic mustard: This is the only tall (three-foot) plant now blossoming in wooded areas, with clusters of small white flowers at its tip. Since garlic mustard almost always blooms in drifts across the landscape, it is hard to miss as you drive.

If you stop to examine it, you will find each flower has four petals and its leaves will give off a slight odor of garlic when crushed. Although many people consider this wildflower a nuisance, many other people prepare delicious salads with it.

Winter cress: Another roadside plant relatively easy to identify as you drive is winter cress. It is one of two yellow field weeds blooming at this time of year. From one to two feet high, winter cress grows in patches or alone throughout the eastern half of the country. Like the garlic mustard, it too has four petals.

There is only one other yellow weed that blooms by the roadsides this early in the year: The tall ragwort. But its stalk is taller than the winter cress, its flower has seven or more petals and it usually appears a little later. But either way, the first wave of yellow wildflowers means May is almost here.