Spring is here... bit by little bit

The scurs and Weather Eye can’t seem to shake Old Man Winter. Was last week his final salvo or have we only just begun? Starting Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny Saturday, with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Sunday, sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the low 20’s. Partly sunny on Monday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the low 20’s. Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Sunny on Wednesday with highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Our daily gain in daylight slows to under three minutes to 2:59 on April 3rd and to 2:57 on the 9th. On the 6th, our daylight is back to 13 hours, roughly the same as we saw back on September 4th. The normal high for April 6th is 51 and the normal low is 31. The scurs were right about the nice spring weather last week, but omitted the snow. Oh, well, by afternoon it was gone again. There. All better.

Friday’s high in the 80’s made folks anxious to make something happen. Some initial fieldwork sightings and reports from last week. Anhydrous ammonia was being applied locally and appeared to be going on well. The seagulls approved. Reports of small grain were noted, although the acreages are nowhere near what they once were. Seed deliveries picked up their pace as some farmers decided to take it, making sure when the time was right, they’d be ready rather than wondering if the seed they’d spoken for was available in the proper size and quantity. There was still evidence of frost in the ground in places, but by and large, in open, worked fields, the frost is likely out. In sheltered areas and grassy lowlands, that may not be the case. Checking the CRP last Tuesday, under heavy cover it was a struggle to get the penetrometer in the ground more than a couple inches. Granted, the weather warmed, but that warmth was short-lived. Unlikely the frost is completely out of those areas yet. Once the pocket gophers start digging and there are earthworm castings, I’m convinced.

Precipitation for the month of March was above normal, the first month since November for many. Not excessive, but enough that should silence the “we need rain” crowd for a while. The precip from last weekend cemented March as the snowiest month of the season so far. With 18.7” in Ellendale, 15.7” at the ranch and 14.6” in Bugtussle, it added some moisture with the soil where it was thawed. Liquid equivalent precip for the month was 4.59”, 4.26” and 3.57” respectively. Compare that to the March normal at the SROC of 9” of snow and 2.25” of liquid equivalent precipitation and one starts to feel a little more comfortable. Issued March 31st, the most recent 30-day NOAA temperature and precipitation outlooks call for even chances of above or below normal for both. Likewise for the 90-day outlooks for both issued March 20th. Also released March 20th, we’re close to the line between drought persisting or being removed. We’re still in a moderate drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor issued March 27th. This doesn’t take into account the recent weekend precipitation, which may change their tune temporarily.

With April nearing, I pulled the trigger Saturday morning and put some early garden in. Even though the SE breeze was cold, I had the seed, and it hadn’t rained yet. It should be ideal timing for radishes and some of the salad greens. The soil was very mellow after all the freezing and thawing. I could just make a seed trench lightly with the hoe along the chalk line, plant the seed and tamp it in. I had two packets of mesclun mix that looked very different from each other once in the seeder. After a row of each of those, I planted a row and a half each of cherry belle and white globe radishes. I had the space, but really didn’t want to open another package of seed for another row. Scrounged through the boxes looking for a leftover partial package. What I found instead was a box with radish seed spilled in the bottom, just enough to fill the seeder for one row. I had no idea what kind they might be, but that’s part of the fun about gardening. One never knows just what you’re going to get.

Spring continues to present itself in bits and pieces. There were song sparrows mixed in with a group of juncos one morning. It was a little difficult to see who they were without binoculars, but once trained upon them, it left little doubt. The goldfinches are gradually morphing into their summer plumage. They’re blotchy looking right now, but are becoming more and more yellow. We’ve definitely had three snows-worth on the robins tail too as they’re busy pulling earthworms out of the ground daily. I put the black cutworm pheromone trap out ahead of Saturday’s rain to detect any errant moths carried north on the system. I caught nothing, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some somewhere else. Thursday night when I put the trap out, I detected the faint sound of a few western chorus frogs coming from the wetland area. Friday evening when the daytime high peaked in the 80’s, the sound coming from the wetland was almost deafening. The cold and snow on Saturday and Sunday, however, put a stop to that nonsense.

Poppy likes chasing the blackbirds & starlings away. Neither species is welcome in the yard. Starlings in particular are a nuisance and are one of the species that can vector bird flu. Now that there is some garden planted, Poppy will also be focused on the bunny population. After chores Sunday there were three cottontails in the backyard where the recently planted garden is. After the snow, the garden area was covered with bunny tracks. Poppy will need to keep her strength up. Shouldn’t be hard. There’s frequently something landing on the floor in the kitchen calling for her attention. I was shocked one night at how well she could hear. I dropped a 2” long piece of cooked spaghetti on the floor. The TV was blaring in the other room. You would’ve thought I’d dropped an anvil as fast as she made it to the kitchen to gobble it up. Contrast that to coming when called while she’s sniffing for things to roll in or eat that she shouldn’t. Just a Corgi doing Corgi things.

See you next week…real good then.