March 19-25, 2012

All that I had dreamed was true, is true.

The earth is fair, more fair

Than I had known or imagined.

-Harlan Hubbard

Lunar phase and lore

Becoming the new Cabbage Butterfly Moon on March 22 at 9:37 a.m., the moon waxes through its first quarter all week. Rising in the morning and setting well after dark, this moon will call out the new cabbage butterflies as it moves overhead in the middle of the day.

On March 19-22, when the moon lies in wet Pisces, do all your early seeding in flats, lawn and pasture seeding and landscape setting. In Taurus on March 24-27, the moon will encourage sprouting and root development. Lunar position above you after lunch could make afternoons the best times for fishing, especially as the March 24 cold front approaches.

Equinox occurs at 12:14 a.m. on March 20. Also on that day, the sun enters the stars of Aries, the constellation that completes the cycle of early spring and, on April 1, brings in the greener and more vibrant season of middle spring.

Weather patterns

The last quarter of the month brings dramatic changes. On March 23, the odds for morning frost are about one in two, but on March 29, those odds fall to just one in four. In the warmest years of all, frost can be gone until October or November.

March 25-28 are the driest and sunniest days of the week, each bringing a 60 percent chance or better of a break in the clouds. March 29 is the day most likely to bring overcast conditions – the sun is absent on that date 65 percent of the time, and rain falls 50 percent of the time. The likelihood of a thunderstorm is six times greater this week than it was last week.

Zeitgebers for next week include the blooming of blue scilla and pushkinia; pollen appears on pussy willow catkins when the sun is warm; question-mark butterflies appear; mourning-cloak butterflies sometimes fly down the streets; white cabbage butterflies visit the snow crocus.

In central Minnesota, robins finally arrive; red-winged blackbirds are nesting along the fencerows throughout the country; sugaring is normally in full swing throughout Vermont; on the Platte River in Nebraska, the sandhill cranes have assembled and are waiting to depart for Canada until around April 10; in the Southwest, wildflower season is reaching its zenith.

March 19: Beginning today and lasting through March 30, the second major March storm period increases the threat of tornadoes in the South and sudden blizzards in the North.

March 20: In the wetlands, ragwort is budding when weeping willows glow yellow-green. In the woods, toad trillium pushes up through the leaves when turkeys start to gobble.

March 21: The moon is new on March 22, so now is a favorable time for planting almost all the flowers and the vegetables that will produce their fruit aboveground. New moon also favors root development in shrubs and trees.

March 22: New moon today could increase the likelihood of storms throughout the nation. But when new raspberry leaves are almost ready for tea, scillas color city lawns blue and soft touch-me-nots have sprouted in the wetlands.

Frosts could be over for the winter along the 40th Parallel, but an average year brings about 20 more to northern gardens.

March 23: Along the 40th Parallel, put in the oats and set out cabbages, kale, collards, lettuce, spinach and Brussels sprouts plants as conditions permit under the waxing moon. Moderately cold weather favors gardening with shrubs and trees; transplant while the ground temperature remains in the 40s.

March 24: Violet cress flowers in the bottomlands. Chickweed and shepherd’s purse open in the alleys. The first white star magnolia blossoms unravel. Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s and 50s. Complete all field-planting preparations.

March 25: The normal average air temperature rises at the rate of one degree every three days as middle spring approaches. Where conditions permit, commercial potato planting is under way and farmers are band-seeding alfalfa.