The Weather Eye predicted moderate temps and the scurs approved. Unfortunately the rainfall left something to be desired. Will drier conditions prevail or are we still stuck in the rinse cycle? Starting Wednesday, sunny becoming mostly cloudy with a good chance of evening rain. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Thursday, partly sunny with a good chance of forenoon rain. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Partly sunny and warmer on Friday with a decent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Saturday, mostly sunny and steamy with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the low 70’s. Mostly sunny for Sunday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Monday, partly sunny with a chance of late day showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Cloudy Tuesday with possible a.m. showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. On Saturday the 16th we’ll see sunrise at 5:31 a.m. We’ll have 15 hours and 24 minutes of daylight, gaining only a few seconds leading up to the summer solstice. The normal high for June 16th is 80 and the normal low is 58. The scurs will need to rest up in order to take advantage of all the daylight. Or not.
Rainfall this past week surprised a lot of folks just about the time they were predicting the beginning of a long dry spell. Not that it still couldn’t happen. It will have to wait a while. Rainfall in town totaled 2.31” and at the ranch 2.32”. It still isn’t as much as some received and yet is more than others garnered. Just goes to show that precipitation is far from uniform and no one has an exclusive on always having the most or the least.
It made farming miserable without a doubt. For those with hay yet to make the forecasts haven't been particularly good. Likewise for those trying to make herbicide applications. Wet fields coupled with the windy conditions have many concerned about getting their dicamba products on their tolerant soybeans. June 20th is the cutoff date for spraying it according to MN state law. At this point there will be no waiver on that spray date. Early planted corn this past week was V8 –V9, some actually V10. Early planted 30” rows closed this past week and 20” rows have been closed for quite some time. They’re sneaky that way. Early planted soybeans were V3 – V4 and are really starting to take off. So are the weeds, hence the weather concerns. Some have asked how our corn and soybean development compares to last year. From last year’s column dated June 13th, we are about dead even with comparable planting dates in both crops.
And of course the rainfall means one thing in common for farmers and non-farmers alike: lots of lawn mowing. It looked as though the lawn at the ranch was starting to get dry the first week of June. One should know better than even to think thoughts like that let alone say anything. Not only have the rains been frequent they were generous. Along with moderating temperatures, it gave cool season grasses in area lawns a second wind. The potential lawn mowing break was over. The mowing had been delayed somewhat at the ranch. Some nights after work the grass was wet and some nights, after chores I was just too tuckered after bouncing across area fields all day. Not a spring chicken anymore.
I did manage to find time to spray the pasture fence at the ranch and it needed it. Some of the Canada thistle were getting out of hand along with foxtail, lambsquarters, waterhemp, giant ragweed, downy brome and horseweed. I changed the witches brew up a little as there have been some weeds, particularly waterhemp that seem to be developing tolerance or resistance. So far so good although waterhemp tends to lull one to sleep and suddenly shrug it off when you’re not looking. Another major weed concern in the lot around the buildings has been nettles. Dicamba is likely my best bet there although just like everyone else, it’s a product to be used with care and respect.
Looking out the back door this past week I noticed one of our resident squirrels chowing down on some of the numerous silver maple seeds. A couple weeks ago the seeds were dropping out of the trees like flies. The squirrels must’ve been busy last fall as the delayed lawn mowing revealed many seedling oaks scattered across the yard. Now I see the ash trees are starting to shed their seeds. They seem to blow around and end up everywhere. Along with squirrels planting acorns and silver maple seeds, no wonder the yard keeps looking more and more like a forest.
It appears there are many of our birds nesting right now. Wrens have claimed a few of the houses around the yard and there are several houses occupied by tree swallows. No bluebirds at the ranch I know of but there are several nesting boxes at the kindly neighbors with blue eggs in them. The house sparrow population at the ranch has been on the wane over the past couple years so I’m hopeful we will see bluebirds back at the ranch again soon.
And finally it looks like I’ll get a chance to take the Studebaker out for a drive. The way the spring broke, the weather’s either been lousy or there simply hasn’t been time. Luckily the last time it was out, there were very few insects so the wipe down was a snap. It might be a different story as now even the fireflies have been around for a week or so. Doubtful that will be one of the insects to worry about however as the bulk of the miles on the vehicle are daylight hours. At any rate it’ll be fun to put the three on the tree through its paces, take my foot off the gas and drop it on down into overdrive. I know there’ll be a Dairy Queen pre-programmed into the navigational equipment on the Silver Hawk. Yet another way that Studebaker was way ahead of its time.
See you next week…real good then.