In gardens you may note amid the dearth

The crocus breaking earth;

And near the snowdrop’s tender white and green,

The violet in its screen. – Henry Timrod

In the Sky

Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. March 10.

Before dawn, all the constellations that ride the Milky Way into summer lie in the east. To the far north, Cassiopeia zigzags towards Cepheus, the house-like constellation just east of the North Star. Following the Milky Way to the south, Cygnus, the Northern Cross, shines overhead. Below Cygnus, is Aquila, with its bright star Altair. Below that, summer’s Sagittarius. Venus, the brightest Morning Star, accompanies the constellations with Aquarius. 

Phases of the Opossum Mating Moon 

And the Termite Migration Moon

March 3: The Opossum Mating Moon enters its final quarter. 

March 10: The Termite Migration Moon is new.

March 17: The moon enters its second quarter.

March 25: The moon is full.

Weather Trends

March’s second quarter brings one more major pivot in the year’s weather patterns. The rate of spring’s advance quickens, and odds for milder weather increase with every sunrise. Chances of an afternoon above 50 degrees rise to 40 percent per day by the end of the week. The third cold wave of the month arrives on the 9th or 10th, but it is typically one of the mildest so far in the year. On March 13, the chances for highs above 50 climb to 45 percent, and they remain near that level until March 22, when they rise even higher Frost strikes the early garden 60 percent of all the nights, however, and there is still a 5-10 percent chance each day this week for a high only in the 20s. Odds for rain or snow are about one in three most days of the period. The 10th is the wettest day with a 50 percent chance of precipitation. But the Sun typically shines a little more than it did last week, with the 14th and the 17th often producing fewer clouds than any time since Jan. 26-28.

The Natural Calendar 

Maple Syrup Season, Snowdrop and Aconite Season, and Pussy Willow Season continue. Daffodil Budding Season and Crocus Blooming Season commence. Migration Season reaches its apex for Canadian geese. Walleye, Sauger, Saugeye, Muskie, Bass and Crappie Feeding Seasons get underway. Earthworm Mating Season starts in the warming rains. Junco Season usually ends at bird feeders as those birds fly north for breeding.

The Sun reaches a declination of five degrees this week. That is 80 percent of the way to spring. Horseradish leaves are typically an inch long today, their length announcing the appearance of Virginia bluebell sprouts on the hillsides and the blossoming of the earliest jonquils in the garden.

Countdown to Spring

• Just a few days to the beginning of the morning robin chorus before sunrise 

• One week to daffodil season and silver maple blooming season and the first golden goldfinches

• Two weeks to tulip season and the first wave of blooming woodland wildflowers and the first butterflies

• Three weeks until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut

• Four weeks until American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn planting time begins

• Five weeks until the Great Dandelion and Violet Bloom and the peak of wildflower season begins

• Six weeks until all the fruit trees flower

• Seven weeks to the first rhubarb pie

• Eight weeks to the great warbler migration through the Lower Midwest

• Nine weeks to the first cricket song of late spring

• 10 weeks to the first orange daylilies blossom

In the Field and Garden

This is the earliest date for planting most hardy vegetables directly in the garden. Farmers also put in oats, spring wheat, and ryegrass for quick vegetative cover. Only 11 weeks remain before the most delicate flowers and vegetables can be planted outside, four weeks until most hardy varieties can be set out. Fertilizer spread on lawn and field will have a month to dissolve in the ground before April or May planting.

Most bedding plants should be started in their flats. Only nine to 10 weeks remain before the most delicate flowers and vegetables can be planted outside. Four weeks until most hardy plants can be set out.

Remove old rhubarb and asparagus stalks, cleaning out around the beds, digging in well-rotted manure. Uncover and fertilize strawberries. Cut off tips of young black raspberry branches, and remove old canes.

The S.A.D. Stress Index

Cloud cover and inclement weather continue to keep Index readings relatively high during March. The day keeps lengthening, however, and improved meteorological conditions toward the end of the month push the numbers down into the middle 40s after equinox.

Key for Interpreting the S.A.D. Index: 

Totals of:

75 - 65: S.A.D. Alert: Severe Stress 

64 - 50: Severe to moderate stress

49 - 35: Moderate stress

34 - 25: Light to moderate stress

24 and below: Only people with extreme sensitivity to S.A.D. experience seasonal affective disorders below an Index reading of 24.

 

Day               Clouds   Weather     Day    Totals

March 1:            21          18              17          56

March l0:           20          16              15          51

March 25:          18          13              12          43

March 31:          17          12              10          39

 

Almanack Literature

Our Baby Groundhogs

By David Raber, Ashland, Ohio

This story by David Raber, like his story about the Canada goose he and his father found in a field (see last week’s Almanack), evokes for me the successes and failures of my own childhood, a time when it seemed necessary to explore nature in person, to really find out what was around me and discover what happened when I tried to keep it for myself.

***

One day last summer, we were in the woods when I saw a hole in the ground. I thought maybe there would be little raccoons in it. So, we went home and got some shovels and started to dig. It was nearly dark, and we thought we had him or just about when Mom came and got us.

The next morning, we went back again. The dog went along. We started digging when the dog started to bark at another hole. So, we went over there and started digging.

All at once the dog had something in his mouth and started running away. Then we saw it was a little groundhog. We looked into the hole and saw another one, and then we dug with our hands until we had them all. There were five or six of them. We took them home and gave them milk with a dropper for a week.

Then they died. Then that was the end of that.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

NAIRB BRAIN

INAPS SPAIN

EANW WANE

INAV             VAIN

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ENVA VANE

INARD DRAIN

NIRAG GRAIN

ANITNCO             CONTAIN

PAENGCHMA CHAMPAGNE

IOIHPGWN EANRC            WHOOPING CRANE  

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

SSEM

SESRTS  

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XCSSEE  

ESESNIF  

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WDLRNSESEI  

SSSHHPDREEE

GERSERS

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Copyright 2024 – W. L. Felker