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Early next week is good time to seed and fertilize the lawn
 
Poor Will's Almanack by Bill Felker 
 
March 2-8, 2015
In our hearts those of us who know anything worth knowing know that in March a new year begins, and if we plan any new leaves it will be when the rest of Nature is planning them too.
-Joseph Wood Krutch
Lunar phase and lore

The Flowering Moss Moon reaches apogee (its position farthest from Earth) on March 5, and it becomes full on the same day at 1:06 p.m. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this moon travels overhead, its most powerful location for fishing being in the middle of the night.
Fishing should be especially successful as the barometer drops in advance of the March 5 and 9 cold fronts. The waning moon in Scorpio on March 9-11 favors planting of root crops and shrubs. Why not put in some peas, too?
Weather trends

The day before the March 5 front arrives is typically the wettest day of the month, with rain or snow likely 70 percent of all the years. Across the South and border states, this high can be accompanied by tornadoes. Once the March 5 front moves through, expect steady winds and brisk temperatures followed by sun.
The month’s next major high-pressure system, due March 9, signals an increased likelihood of storms almost everywhere in the country, and this weather system is accompanied by floods and tornadoes more often than any other front during the first three weeks of the month. March 9-11 bring some of the chilliest temperatures of the first half of the month.
The natural calendar

March 2: Walleye, sauger, saugeye, muskie, bass and crappie start spring feeding.
March 3: Four weeks until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves, and morel mushrooms grow in the dark.
March 4: Pussy willows are often completely open by today, a traditional signal for the end of maple syrup time.
March 5: The full moon is likely to bring storms and a freeze. Beginning today, the first major storm window of March opens – and stays open through March 14.
March 6: Winter juncos depart for the north. Horseradish leaves  are usually an inch long by today.
March 7: Virginia bluebells emerge from the ground.
March 8: Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Set clocks ahead one hour.
In field and garden

March 2: Complete the spraying of fruit trees between full moon and new moon. Spray with dormant oil when the temperature is expected to stay above 40 degrees for 24 hours.
March 3: This is a good time to seed and fertilize the lawn.
March 4: After full moon (tomorrow), take care of the animals: trim hooves, slaughter, worm and treat for external parasites.
March 5: Do late pruning on colder afternoons.
March 6: Uncover and fertilize strawberries. Also, spread fertilizer on all your garden spaces.
March 7: Cut off tips of young black raspberry branches, and remove old canes. Weed the raspberry and blackberry beds.
March 8: Just 10 weeks until the most tender flowers and vegetables can be set out in the garden.
Almanac literature
Great American Story Contest entry
Picnic
By Fred Gullion
Scottsburg, Ind.
In the spring of 1959 while I was home on leave from the Navy, my wife of a few short months who was and continues to be a very outdoors-loving person and sometimes rather strange, decided we should go on a picnic to one of her favorite places: Twin Caves.
They were called Twin Caves due to the way they were formed. A huge sinkhole had allowed water to flow into and created a cave, which was perhaps 200 feet long that ended at a cliff overlooking Fourteen Mile Creek. Naturally water ran through the cave in a small stream out and over the edge and fell perhaps 15 feet to the creek.
A narrow path led from the cave along the creek bank at a slight angle. Since the lower creek bank is where she wanted to go for our picnic, we would have to wind our way down.
I was carrying the basket following my wife, who always carried a .22 rifle and camera wherever she went – sounds sort of strange, but believe me, it was perfectly normal for her. My wife had packed a beautiful lunch, which included deviled eggs and more than two people could possibly eat at one time.
Just as I started across the small stream in the cave, my foot slipped on the wet rocks. At first I tried to catch my balance, but it was impossible with the huge basket and my feet going higher than my head, so over the cliff I went.
I ended up on my backside sitting in the creek, wet and muddy with the picnic basket upended by my side. The deviled eggs were last seen floating on toward the Ohio River.
My wife was almost crying from laughing.
Her only concern was that her beautiful deviled eggs were ruined and her basket was wet; never mind that this sailor was adrift on a sea without a ship.
Winners of the Great American Almanac Story Contest will not be announced until all selected entries appear in this column.

2/27/2015