July 2-8, 2012

The designs of nature are not random or haphazard. All designs fit – the animate and the inanimate, the small and the large, the human and the not human.

-Adrian Bejan

The Firefly Moon turns completely full at 1:52 p.m. July 3, then wanes through its third quarter during the rest of the week, entering its final quarter at 8:48 p.m. July 10. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this moon moves overhead after midnight.

Nighttime fishing is favored by lunar position next week; schedule your time on the water for after dark, especially as the barometer falls in advance of the Corn Tassel Rains than often arrive this week in the form of thunderstorms. Planting of autumn root crops is favored under the moon in Capricorn on July 2-4 and in Pisces July 7-8. Full moon on July 3 could make for a turbulent Independence Day.

July’s solar declination shift means a loss of about 45 minutes in the day’s length. In the Ohio Valley, for example, the sun rises around 6:30 a.m. by the end of the month instead of near 6, and sunset takes place before 9 p.m. instead of after 9.

Aphelion, the point at which the Earth is farthest from the sun, occurs at 11 p.m. July 4. Throughout the month, the sun moves steadily from its solstice declination of 23 degrees, 26 minutes to a late summer declination of 18 degrees, 30 minutes. That distance is approximately one-fourth of the way toward autumn equinox.

Like the final front of June, the July 6 weather system is associated with the Corn Tassel Rains. Thunderstorms and overcast skies often precede this front especially close to full moon, spoiling fireworks displays, sometimes bringing hail.

July 6 is one of the driest days of the month’s first two weeks, but some of the wettest days come between July 2-13. Watch your livestock for foot disease that is often related to muddy pastures.

After July 8, there is a full 90 percent chance that afternoon highs will reach 80 or above. July 7-9 are some of the worst Dog Days of the year, all three bringing a 10 percent chance for heat above 100 degrees.

Zeitgebers of next week include blooming of Shasta daisies, rose of Sharon and garden phlox, and the close of black-raspberry season. If the weather is hot, cicadas will begin to call.

July 2: The behavior of raccoons, opossums and groundhogs becomes erratic in the heat. Young robins, blackbirds and blue jays are in the honeysuckle bushes eating red and orange berries, and soon the rough-winged swallows will lead the fall migrations south.

July 3: Full moon today may increase travel problems and complicate picnics with thunderstorms. Humans and livestock may be more on edge throughout the day.

July 4: Middle summer harvest is generally advised as the moon wanes. Dig potatoes, dry onions and the last garlic, cut cabbage for kraut, pickle the cucumbers, gather sweet corn, top tobacco and bring in oats, wheat, alfalfa and all the summer market crops. The waning moon favors detasseling corn and renovating strawberry beds (cut the tops of the plants above the crowns, and fertilize).

Plant the early fall root-crop garden, too. Take cuttings from your geraniums, coleus and other plants you’d like to save indoors this winter; the dark moon fosters root growth for these and other cuttings. Prune suckers from your fruit trees. Wisteria vines may also be cut back now.

July 5: Mimosa webworms appear on locust trees. Potato leafhoppers reach economic levels in some alfalfa. Bagworms attack arborvitae, euonymus, juniper, linden, maple and fir.

July 6: Root diseases stalk the soybeans. The wheat still standing in the fields suffers from rust, powdery mildew, head scab and glume blotch. Farmers feel the pressure from Canadian thistle, ragweed, foxtail, lambsquarters, dogbane, velvetleaf, nut grass and Johnson grass.

July 7: Elderberry flowers turn to fruit, like the blossoms of pokeweed, poison ivy and the trilliums.  August’s goldenrod can be four feet tall now. Lupine pods break apart to spread their seeds. White snakeroot, ironweed, boneset, wingstem, tall coneflowers and gray-headed coneflowers are budding.

July 8: The harvest of winter wheat is almost over in the Midwest, and the canola harvest has begun in the North. Field corn is silking, and detasseling is taking place in seed cornfields.