Feb. 13-19, 2012

Any observant local knows more than any visiting scientist. Always. No exceptions.

-Roger Payne

A refined, discriminating knowledge of localities by the local people is indispensable if we want the most sensitive application of intelligence to local problems, if we want the best work to be done. if we want the world to last.
-Wendell Berry

This week takes the Singing Cardinal Moon through its final quarter, then changes it into the Red-Winged Blackbird Moon at 5:35 p.m. Feb. 21. Passing through the root-crop sign of Capricorn Feb. 17-19, this moon favors the seeding of onions and radishes in flats or directly in the garden.

Rising in the morning and setting in the afternoon, the moon lies overhead near the middle of the day, making lunchtime the perfect lunar time to go fishing or to stop your diet. When the barometer drops in advance of the Feb. 20 cold front, midday fishing should be especially fruitful.

The third quarter in February is statistically one of the most exciting of the entire year. Chances for cold highs in the 20s or below remain around 20 percent throughout the week; however, chances for highs in the 40s or above climb to 60 percent by Feb. 20, and then between Feb. 18-23, chances for highs in the 50s or 60s reach an average of 20 percent per day, the first time that has happened since Dec. 10.

And, in one of the most radical weather changes of the year, the weekly chances for an afternoon in the 60s swell from last week’s 1/10 to 3/10. The Feb. 15 cold front is the last of winter’s 15 major high-pressure systems.

From now on, the thaws – which began with highs in the 50s near Groundhog Day – steadily build momentum, the thaws of Feb. 18 and 22 and March 1, 5, 11 and 25 pushing and pushing until the full tide of wildflowers moves across the Ohio Valley.

Zeitgebers, or events in nature that tell the time of year, for next week include the first markers of the six-week season of early spring: the sporadic blooming of dandelions in sunnier lawns; the increasing activity of water striders and small moths on warmer days; the running of maple sap; the nesting of cardinals; and the nighttime mating of salamanders.

Feb. 13: The season of spring birdsong begins most years on Jan. 25, but it’s the middle of February that consistently turns late winter into early spring. Sometimes the weather doesn’t change for the better in the early days of the year’s second month; sometimes the cold is worse than in the middle of January.

But it’s the sound that changes and fills the silence of dormancy, songs accumulating like leaves emerging.

Feb. 14: Get the cold and hot frames ready. The following vegetables can be planted a month before your last frost: peas, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, collards, kale, onions, potatoes and radishes. Purchase dahlia and elephant ear bulbs for planting in pots during March or April.

Feb. 15: If you have pregnant does or ewes, experiment with feeding them before noon. Many people find that feeding early is associated with giving birth during the day instead of in the middle of the night.

Continue worming livestock on a regular basis through the winter months. Some owners worm once a month, and rotate wormers to decrease chances for immunities to develop.

Feb. 16: Depending on the weather and soil conditions, this may be the time to lime your soil. Since lime reacts slowly with the ground, it should be worked in a few months before planting. Lime can also be applied to the surface for no-till fields. Test the soil first, of course.

Feb. 17: Throughout the Central states, the ground temperature is often moving above 35 degrees, the temperature at which earthworms become active and pastures start to grow again. The dark moon’s position in Capricorn today through Feb. 19 should encourage seeds to swell and sprout.

Feb. 18: This is winter’s Cross-Quarter Day, the first day of early spring and the average time for wildflowers to start opening in the Southwest. In the Border States and further south, strawberries often have new foliage and will be blooming in a few weeks.

On Cross Quarter Day, the sun remains above the horizon for an hour-and-a-half longer than it did on solstice. The night has shortened by 90 minutes through the space of 60 days, and the speed of the change reaches real spring levels now, the remaining gain of 70 minutes occurring between Feb. 18 and equinox.

And the sun, which took 60 days to travel the first half of the way to equinox, suddenly doubles its speed, completing the second half of the journey in only 32 days.

Feb. 19: Snowdrop buds are getting bigger almost every year at this time. In warmer Februarys, aconites are up, red stems awkward, gangly like birds just out of the egg, necks wobbly, looking to the ground. Some daffodils can be up six inches. Rhubarb is continuing to unravel, and crocus foliage is taller.