I think there are few people who would disagree with the only true thing he said during the entire press conference. No one in this country has ever seen anything like the year we have just endured.
Whether clear or cloudy, the land is lit by the season’s amazing insect light show. Fireflies! Blinking, streaking lightning bugs elicit in us the wonder of starlight and shooting stars close to the ground and up into the treetops.
Sow seed for heat tolerant radicchio lettuce and Rainbow Swiss Chard now for beautiful, long lasting autumn harvests. Frost tolerant crops like kale are worth planting now, too.
On July 1, the Full Thunder Moon rises in the east-southeast at 8 p.m. It is the first of two full moons in July – the next occurs on the 31st. This atypical celestial phenomenon is known as a “blue moon” and occurs once every two – three years.
Although the vegetable gardener is focused on growing staple foods, immeasurable benefit is gleaned when “edge elements” are included. Plants of purely botanical and ecological interest invariably attract beneficial birds and insects.
The longest days of the year, from Friday the 19th – Wednesday the 24th, are 15 hours 16 minutes, which leaves 8 hours 44 minutes from sundown to sunup, the shortest nights of the year. For the rest of June and through the first week of July, nights are barely 8 hours long when dawn and dusk are taken into account.
I aimed the cold-water spray through the trellis wire to the outer row, swinging the hose slowly, deliberately. Into the midst of my concentration on the task, a ruby-throated hummingbird flew, suspending its colorful little body in the spray I was creating.
Proceed with planting Cosmic Red Carrots, Rainbow Swiss Chard, colorful radishes, purple potatoes and the varied cabbage family – kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. If all vegetable garden spaces are not yet prepared, sow extra seed in beds that are ready so that seedlings may be moved into spacious ground later.
To participate virtually in the progress of NASA’s historic New Horizons flyby mission to Pluto — which is scheduled to arrive at the icy world on July 14 — download Simulation Curriculum’s free interactive exploration app, Pluto Safari for iOS and Android.
I am eager to locate Mercury as soon as it is physically possible for the eye to see it as daylight fades into twilight. It is said that the Greeks tested their eyesight in this way.
The garden has thrown off its snow blanket and frost-hardy vegetables are growing despite occasional nighttime temperatures in the 20’s when the top layer of earth freezes solid.
Launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which is described as “the most successful and celebrated scientific instrument ever built.”
When we view the native plants that surround our gardens and yards as an extension of our cultivated areas, part of the living, pulsating community that shapes our sense of place, we more fully express ourselves as gardeners and stewards of the Earth.
The upcoming lunar eclipse could be a brief experience of the divine. In the Berkshires, it will be a fleeting partial eclipse on Saturday morning April 4th, minutes before the sun rises in the east and the full moon sets in the west, with Earth in between.
When it is cold outdoors and chilled hands send us in, take the time to create or complete planting plans for the vegetable garden, perennial beds and borders.
