The Fifth Week of Early Spring
The Seventeenth Week of the Natural Year
Lunar Phase And Lore
The Flowering Moss Moon becomes the Cabbage Butterfly Moon on March 20 at 4:36 a.m. Rising in the early morning and setting in the afternoon, this moon will travel overhead through the middle of the day. That being the case, fish should have lunch about the same time as you do, especially when the cold fronts of March 24 and 29 approach. Lunar conditions for planting are ideal throughout the period, especially as the moon passes through wet Pisces on the 18th through the 20th and through Taurus on the 22nd through the 24th.
Weather Trends
The March 24 cold front, like the March 14 system, is often mild, and it is followed by some of the driest and brightest days so far in the year. In the low-pressure trough that precedes the March 29 cold front, the 28th is typically one of the warmest days in March, with highs above 60 degrees occurring five days in 10 at the 40th Parallel and below.
The Natural Calendar
March 20: The moon is new today. The sun enters Aries, and equinox occurs at 12:14 a.m.
March 21: Pollen appears on pussy willow catkins. First forsythia flowers
March 22: New raspberry leaves are ready for tea.
March 23: Frosts could be over for the winter, but an average year brings 20 more.
March 24: Touch-me-nots sprout in the swamps.
March 25: Question mark, tortoise shell and cabbage butterflies look for nectar. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive. Violet cress may be flowering in the lowlands.
March 26: Leaves grow on skunk cabbage. First periwinkles bloom.
In the Field and Garden
March 20: Rhubarb should be up in most sheltered patches. Five weeks remain until the first rhubarb pie
March 21: Plant first sweet corn in southern counties.
March 22: Termites swarm in the third to fourth week of March, depending on the character of early spring.
March 23: Remove mulch from around rose bushes. Spread manure once again.
March 24: When the soil temperature reaches into the middle 50s, crabgrass germinates in the garden — about the same time that yellow forsythia flowers and daffodils open. Try to apply your crabgrass herbicide (or deep mulch) just before germination.
March 25: Plant sets of broccoli, cabbage, collards and kale.
March 26: Transplant shade and fruit trees, shrubs, grape vines, strawberries, raspberries and roses while the ground temperature remains in the 40s. Complete all field planting preparations.
Journal
More and more things are happening, the plot of the story of March becoming more and more apparent as the month comes toward its climax.
Bright aconites and snowdrops and snow crocus have reached full bloom and begin to wither. Hyacinths and daffodils and tulips and pushkinia are inching up, sometimes budding, sometimes opening in the sun. Lilacs and raspberries, multiflora roses, privets and mock orange shrubs are leafing out, joining the precocious honeysukcles.
The robins mate in earnest before sunrise now. Bluebirds and killdeer and mockingbirds appear in the woods and fields. Cardinals and red-winged blackbirds have set their territories, defend them with song. Grackles explore the woods and shrubs, their firm clucks marking their pathways. Nuthatches court. Towhees court. Gold finches are half gold, will be full gold when the daffodils flower.
Flies hatch in the sun. Mosquitoes look for blood. Ants build their habitats in sidewalk cracks. Chipmunks venture out in the woodpiles and stone fences. Grass snakes bask in the first warm days. Toads and frogs emerge from their winter dens. Worms, pulled from their soil by the rains, get lost on driveways and roads.
About the Author