A month of weather mystery

Nothing quite as fresh as the aroma of an April shower. One of the April’s freshest attributes is those days that are adorned with a fresh April shower — the kind that causes sweet little girls to carry umbrellas in their back packs each morning and it must bring back memories of when they carried their umbrellas to school on a promising April morning in their childhood years ago. There is nothing that compares to that of walking in an April shower because many of them are as fickle as the month itself. April is our favorite of the months because it holds so many promises and so much variety. It can not only produce refreshing showers, but maybe an April snow to melt the heart, a day of warmth, a morning of frost, the aroma of a shower, the color of a rainbow, a lawn filled with robins, puffy white clouds and gray sky all within one hour of time. Nothing is as rare and dainty as the days of April.

Watching a lion in center of the night sky. As we reach on into early April, a beautiful sight adorns the night sky of spring. It is the spring constellation of Leo, the Lion located in the center of the night sky of spring just after dark. You can find Leo the Lion about five times the distance between the stars that form the bowl of the Big Dipper. Leo is a herald of spring in the night sky each night. Leo will move a little farther to the west each night until it sets in summer. You can get a great view of Leo on a night with no moon on a country road away from city lights and towns and cities.

Preparing azaleas for a season of bloom. Azaleas have wintered their way into another spring season and are a little over a month away from another season of colorful blooms and foliage. Give them a great start by giving them a drink of Miracle-Gro liquid food and repeat in about ten days. Azaleas respond quickly to liquid plant food. You will not only be paving the way to beautiful flowers but lush green foliage all summer.

Do not let early April fool you into setting out tomato plants. There are many tomato plants showing up in garden shops, hardwares, Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot and supermarkets. Just remember that April can bring frost, cold nights and also a freeze warning. All these are elements that tomato plants can do without. Even if tomato plants are protected and survive, they will be stunted in growth and those you set out in May when night and day temperatures are warmer will out perform them and you will lose no time, or waste money on tomato plants.

You still have time to set out cabbage and broccoli plants. Cabbage and broccoli plants can be planted in the cool soil of April. Most hardwares, seed shops, and garden departments have many varieties of broccoli and cabbage plants available. Be sure to purchase those plants that have healthy blue-green stems and are not legged out of their containers or damped off or have dried brown stems. Make sure leaves are dark green and not yellow. Set plants in a furrow about two feet apart. Apply a layer of peat moss in the bottom of the furrow and apply a layer of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food and hill up soil on both sides of the furrow. You can also use Black Kow composted cow manure in the furrow to promote quick growths of the plants.

Black Kow is a great soil additive. This product comes in a black and yellow plastic bag and is available in 25- and 50-pound bags at hardwares, garden shops, Lowe’s, Home Depot. It is totally organic and virtually odorless. It is a great additive to soil and enhances the soil. It is great for vegetables, roses, and flowers in beds and gardens. Another great plant food is Dr. Earth’s which is sold at Home Depot. Dr. Earth has special formulas for tomatoes, vegetables, and flowers. It comes in three-pound plastic bags and in powdery form that is easy to apply and quickly absorbs into the soil when it rains. We especially like this product because you do not get it on your hands. All you do is cut a slot in top of the bag and pour a small amount in the furrow or row and cover it with soil. Hold your nose when applying it because it does have a strong smell, but very beneficial. You will see results.

A good stock of annual flower packets. Most hardwares and seed shops as well has Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and many supermarkets have racks filled with colorful flower seeds in stock. You can choose from zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, poppies, bachelor buttons, coleus, and morning glories, if you are interested.

The shade of a morning glory vine. We mentioned morning glories in the above paragraph of flower seeds. My grandma in Northampton County had a large front yard with no shade trees. To provide shade for her front porch, she had a plant bed full of good soil and she sowed a packet of blue morning glory seeds in the bed. She watered them each morning as they grew tall, she filled the porch with wires that reached to the porch ceiling. All summer, the morning glory vines provided color and shade as well as a certain amount of beauty in its own simple way to the front porch. After all, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! It is wonderful to know that there is some good even in a morning glory vine!

Experimenting with a packet of white moonflowers. Moonflowers are distant kin to the morning glory family. The big difference is they open before your eyes at sunset and bloom all night long and each bloom lasts for only one night. Every night new blooms open. A packet of seed costs less than $2. Plant two or three seeds in a container and when they start running, provide a tall pole or stake or pillar for them to run up. As the blooms open at twilight, they emit a very unusual aroma that attracts nighttime pollinators.

Robins are the bird of every season. We believe robins are not only a sign of spring, but a bird of every season. Whether it’s global warming or the fact that they have adapted to our four seasons, we see them all year long. They look colorful, well adapted, and nourished. We see them on the lawn even in the cold of December. Surely there are enough insects wintering over to sustain them. They find plenty of protective places to stay warm, and after all southern winters are not continually harsh. There are plenty of hollow, old barns, sheds and piles of brush and leaves. The robins we see in winter are not shivering from cold and seem tolerant to the cold.

Buying a couple of packets of four o’clocks. Four o’clocks are now available in hardwares, garden shops, Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. They cost less than $2 a packet. They come in colors of yellow, red, white, pink, marbled and speckled. They can be planted in rows and at the edge of the garden plot. The flowers will continue to bloom all the way until frost. Another plus of four o’clocks is their beautiful green foliage that forms a sort of bushy hedge.

You can make American Bee Balm to be a beautiful perennial. We have found that American Bee Balm performs better year round if you cut it back and let it winter over in the sunny room inside your home. Sometimes the winter outside gets a little too harsh for them and it is a good choice to winter them inside so they will have a good start next spring. This is better than covering them up during freezes. Water then once a week and apply Flower-Tone flower organic food or Miracle-Gro on them once a month.

Hoe-Hoe-Hoedown: “Pass the stuffing!” Johnny: “Sonny, that’s a beautiful stuffed tiger you have there. Where did you get him?” Lonnie: “From India when I was on a hunting trip with my uncle.” Johnny: “And what’s he stuffed with?” Lonnie: “My uncle.”

Location, Location: “I don’t think my parents like me. When I was growing up, they had me to memorize a phony address just in case I got lost!”

Proper Grammar: Teacher: “Why should we never use the word, ain’t?” Student: “Because it ain’t right.”

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