The scurs must’ve pushed the air conditioning lever too far the wrong direction on the Weather Eye. Nothing a little baling wire and a pair of pliers can’t solve, we hope. Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms in the overnight. Highs near 80 and lows in the upper 50’s. Partly sunny and cooler on Thursday with highs in the upper 60’s and lows around 50. Mostly sunny Friday with a slight chance of a shower late. Highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. Saturday, partly sunny becoming mostly cloudy with a good chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the lower 60’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the forenoon. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows around 60. Monday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s and lows again around 60. Partly sunny becoming mostly cloudy with a good chance for rain on Tuesday. Highs in the low 70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. The normal high for Flag Day June 14th is 79 and the normal low is 58. On the 14th we will only gain about one more minute of daylight until the summer solstice. The scurs will have their hammock ready for their afternoon naps.
The Full Moon for the month comes on the 12th and is known as the Full Strawberry Moon. This is the month when the berries are in their prime and those of us who enjoy that juicy red fruit are in 7th heaven. Few things are better with a bowl of ice cream. The Ojibwe and Sioux were both in agreement on the name for this moon as well. At the ranch it becomes the Mow Lawn in the Dark Moon.
Crops continued to make progress although the corn has slowed and is going through the ugly stage it frequently does this time of year. The plants are switching over from their seminal root system to the still developing nodal root system which will nurture the plant for the rest of the growing season. There frequently is a lag period that can be influenced by many factors including weather, hybrid and soil conditions at or before planting. Given some warm sunny weather, the plants outgrow it in a matter of a week or two. Soybeans are emerging and growing rapidly at this point with the recent rains coming to the aid of some fields where seedlings were struggling to break through a heavy crust after laying in dry soil. Alfalfa cuttings have been underway and yields appear to be decent. Last Saturday’s rainfall was extremely variable with some in Greater Bugtussle receiving nothing with others receiving up to 2 inches and everything in between. Fortunately our subsoil moisture is in pretty good shape so worrying about drought isn’t on the agenda just yet.
The garden at the ranch has experienced many of the same conditions that field crops have experienced. The vine crops, particularly the squash and pumpkins are born to run so we’ve left adequate space. They are poised and ready when the weather stays consistently warm. Not unexpected since they’ve already had the best of the rainfall and warm temperatures spring has had to offer since they were transplanted. Something to keep an eye on however are the striped cucumber beetles that appeared already on June 9th. They can decimate young vine crops if left unchecked for just a few days. There are also signs of cutworm activity, not surprising given the level captures in the pheromone trap monitored for the U of M’s black cutworm trapping network.
It has been a real struggle to keep up with the lawn mowing after the weekend rain. The windbreak gets neglected so it takes additional time to mow that when it gets away from us. We’re not alone. The drone of lawnmower engines can be heard across the landscape trying in vain to keep up. About the time we finish the last of the mowing the first mowed part needs mowing again. Fudgie and Ruby enjoy it. Walking behind the mower as it goes back and forth makes their white socks green. With that much grass stain, we should probably volunteer them for a laundry detergent ad campaign.
Auntie Mar Mar has been found! News of her demise was greatly exaggerated. And luckily for me it meant the blueberry bars I’d been craving suddenly appeared. I receive such neat things from readers. This includes goodies, prints, newspaper clippings, weeds, bugs, or even just the great conversations about common interests whether it's gardening, fruit trees, weather, dogs, etc. Nice to be appreciated and like all of us, it keeps us running.
See you next week…real good then.