April 1-7, 2019

April … the month of the swelling buds, the springing grass, the first nests, the first plantings, the first flowers … The door of the seasons first stands ajar this month, and gives us a peep beyond. The month in which to begin the world, in which to begin your house, in which to begin your courtship, in which to enter upon any new enterprise.

-John Burroughs

The Cabbage White Butterfly Moon darkens through the first days of April, becoming the new Cows Switching Their Tails Moon at 3:50 a.m. on April 5. Lunar position is ideal for all planting this week. Put in seeds for hardy vegetables with the moon overhead around midday throughout the period (and do your angling) as the cool fronts of April 2 and 6 approach.

Weather trends

Two major weather systems, one arriving on April 2 and another coming in on April 6, usually dominate the first quarter of the month in the lower Midwest, increasing the chance of precipitation. Snow is most likely to fall on April 3-5. There is a 20 percent chance of a high in the 80s this week, and there is more than a 50 percent chance of an afternoon in the 60s or 70s.

Still, the first quarter of the fourth month is its coldest quarter, and with New Moon on April 5, daily chances of frost remain steady at an average of 40 percent throughout the period.

The natural calendar

April 1: All the major planets remain visible this month, complementing and enhancing the lengthening days and new fauna with their beauty. Rising before midnight in Ophiuchus, Jupiter travels across the morning sky, lying in the southern sky before sunrise.

April 2: Coming up after midnight in Sagittarius, Saturn moves along the southern horizon, following well behind Jupiter until dawn. The last of the major planets to appear before sunup, Venus moves retrograde into Aquarius, following Sagittarius and Saturn along the tree line. Now in Taurus, Mars remains the low Evening Star along the western horizon.

April 3: The yellow blossoms of forsythia bushes always announce the arrival of middle spring. This is the time that the remaining daffodils and grape hyacinths flower in the garden.

April 4: Pollen appears on pussy willow catkins. Frog and toads mate. Grubworms come to the surface of the lawn when the temperatures rise past 70 degrees.

April 5: Ducklings and goslings hatch. Creeping phlox and wisteria come into flower. Flowering pears, plums, apples, and cherries bloom and set their fruit.

April 6: The day now starts increasing at the rate of two minutes every 24 hours.

April 7: Clover blooming in the fields tells you that tick and flea season have begun. The juniper webworm emerges, and eastern tent caterpillars may begin to weave on flowering fruit trees. And in a mild middle spring, the grass is usually long enough for cutting by this date.

April frost, allergy watches

Between April 1-June 1, up to dozen frosts occur at lower elevations along the 40th Parallel during a typical year. Of course, in some years, frosts end with March. Normally, however, the approximate chances of frost follow a regular and steadily declining trajectory through the end of May.

April l: 95 percent

April 10: 80 percent

April 15: 70 percent

April 20: 50 percent

April 25: 40 percent

April 30: 30 percent

The Allergy Index is an estimated pollen count on a scale of 0-700 grains per cubic meter. Major pollen sources include box elders, maples, pussy willows, flowering crabs, and cherries. As a sampling, some are: April 1, 10 grains; April 10, 50; April 15, 100; April 25, 200; and April 30, 400.

Some estimated April mold counts on a scale of 1-7,000 grains are: April 1, 1,300 grains; April 5, 1,600; April 20, 1,900; and April 30: 2,100.

Field and garden

Seed tender plants under lights in the North, but plant most vegetables and flowers under the dark of the new Cows Switching Their Tails Moon (April 5). Plant root crops and perform animal maintenance under the waning moon from April 1-4 or 20-30.

The next two weeks are favored for completing the seeding of garden crops. Early sweet corn and peas should be put in as soon as possible. It is only seven weeks before the most tender plants can be placed outdoors.

Three more weeks of relatively mosquito-free gardening remain. Grass is usually long enough to cut by today across the nation’s midsection. Strawberries flower when grass is long, and young groundhogs come out to feed on the greens.

Dig in new strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry plants. Set out head lettuce. Check roses for disease and insects as new leaves emerge. Mounds begin to show on your lawn as moles wake up and hunt grubs and worms.

Cabbage butterflies are laying eggs on the new sets of cabbage, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts. Carpenter bees appear around the house and barn, looking for nesting sites. Mosquitoes bite you in the garden. Tent caterpillars begin to hatch on wild cherry trees. Mulberry, locust, tree of heaven, viburnum, and ginkgo send out their first leaves.

In the countdown to summer, you’ll find it is:

•One week until lilacs bloom in your dooryards

•Two weeks until all the honeysuckles flower

•Three weeks to morel season

•Four weeks to the first rhubarb pie

•Five weeks to the great warbler migration through the lower Midwest

•Six weeks to the first strawberry pie

•Seven weeks until the first orange daylilies blossom

•Eight weeks until roses flower

•Nine weeks until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind

•10 weeks until wild black raspberries sweeten

Best of the Almanac

Flight Kills Chickens

By Nancy Searfoss

Knightstown, Ind.

A dear friend of mine was raised on a Mississippi farm. His much-older brother was a test pilot with the U.S. Air Force and did not get home often. He did, however, fly near the farm on several occasions and would always drop the plane low and wiggle its wings over their house when he got the opportunity.

One day he was flying a supersonic model and was in the vicinity. As he swooped down over the farm, the family's flock of about 40 chickens was roosting in a big tree. As the plane roared overhead, the chickens, as one, fell dead out of the tree. It was like something right out of a cartoon.

Needless to say, the family, field hands, and all the neighbors feasted on chicken for several days. They never replaced the flock, either.