We’re in the most productive months for most people
The year holds one moment, which may last for a week, when tree and bush and vine are on the breathless verge of leafing out. It is then that one can stand on a hilltop and look across the valley and see the scarlet and orange maple blossoms like a touch of pastel crayon across the treetops.
— Hal Borland
In the sky
The moon: The Daffodil Moon, new on the 21st, waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 10:33 p.m. on March 28. Lunar apogee, when the Moon is farthest from Earth, occurs on March 31. Rising in the morning and setting in the night, this Moon passes overhead in the afternoon, its most favorable lunar position for fishing.
The sun: The sun’s declination moves well past the midpoint of its ascent toward solstice this week, reaching a declination of 2 degrees 56 minutes on March 28, about 55% of the way toward summer.
The planets: Still the bright evening stars, Venus and Jupiter shine in the west after sundown.
The stars: Early on March evenings, Orion has moved into the west, taking winter with it.
Weather trends
Between April 1 and June 1, close to 10 frosts occur in this part of the state. Chances for frost to strike after the dates listed below are:
■ April 5: 95%
■ April 10: 90%
■ April 15: 80%
■ April 20: 75%
■ April 25: 65%
■ April 30: 50%
The natural calendar
In spite of the chill, the Cornus mas shrubs come into full bloom, their golden flowers foreshadowing the forsythia that will blossom by the end of the month. Now begin your spring wildflower walks: snow trillium is blossoming, and violet cress is budding. Motherwort swells into clumps, and henbit is in full bloom. In warm yards, daffodils and magnolias blossom. Pollen appears on pussy willow catkins. Chickweed and shepherd’s purse are open in the alleys. The first white star magnolia blossoms unravel in town.
More bluebirds and yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive every day. Catfish are feeding. Question mark, tortoise shell and cabbage butterflies sometimes emerge to look for flowers. Sandhill cranes migrate in Nebraska.
In the field and garden
Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s and 50s. Complete field and garden planting preparations. Remove dead and damaged raspberry canes before new spring growth begins. Shorten strongest canes to 4-5 feet in length. If only a fall crop of everbearing raspberries is desired, all of the canes can be mowed to ground level now. Black raspberries should be thinned to about three of the largest diameter canes, and side branches should be trimmed to about eight inches.
Frost, wind, rain, snow and overcast days may make it hard for bees to fly, or plants may not to produce enough pollen or nectar. Feed the bees if they are stuck in their hives.
Mind and body
The proverbial “spring cleaning” has its roots in human physiology and psychology. Conditioned by millennia of hunter-gatherer and agricultural behavior, creatures instinctively want to be prepared for spring. Chronobiologists (scientists who study the relationship between seasons and biological change) have observed that March through May are the most productive months for most humans, a productivity that is founded in our need to be ready for the end of the cold.
Countdown
■ Just a few days until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut
■ One week until the earliest American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn planting time begins
■ Two weeks until lilacs bloom in your dooryards
■ Three weeks until all the honeysuckles flower
■ Five weeks to the morel season
■ Six weeks to the great warbler migration through the Lower Midwest
■ Seven weeks to the first cricket song of late spring
■ Eight weeks until the first orange daylilies blossom
■ Nine weeks until the high canopy begins shades the garden
■ 10 weeks until the first mulberries are sweet for picking and cottonwood cotton drifts in the wind.