Is It Really Spring?

All the calendars I checked say that March 20th was the first day of Spring. Really; Seriously... are you sure?

I'm thinking Spring might have arrived for some of my friends down south, in fact I know it has, they have been out gardening... but here?  I'm not so sure.

We've had quite a bit of melting, and there is a lot of really big puddles, and yes the snow piles have dwindled somewhat, but truthfully, the wind still has a bite to it, and most of Manitoba was under a winter snow warning yesterday - Thankfully that snow warning did not include our City - but still!

Here's what I think.  Mother nature is doing her very best to ensure we really enjoy our summer this year.  Last summer was so soggy and rather cool, the winter was extremely cold with lots of snow, so we are all counting the hours to beautiful warm dry weather.  After what we've already been through - weather wise - anything will be a vast improvement, and we will be extremely thankful to Mother Nature for giving us sun and heat and beautiful weather..

 My father is a firm believer in The Old Farmers Almanac.  He has used it all his life as did his father before him.  Dad planted his vegetable garden according to the moon cycles every year, and he always had abundant crops come harvest time.

So I decided to take a peek and see what The Old Farmers Almanac had to say about the summer season to come.  This is for our region, it's easy to check yours by logging in to http://www.almanac.com/weather

So here is what is in store for us:
April and May will be cooler than normal (great!) with near-normal precipitation (I'd like more details here).
Snowfall above normal with late snowfalls in early -mid-late April.  (Guess I asked for details, and guess they are saying snow for all of April?)  Probability of frost after May 22 is 50%! (You've got to be kidding me!)

Summer - yeah  - now we're talking - drier than usual (Yeah!) above normal temperatures in Manitoba.  Hottest temperatures occurring in early to mid July and mid August.  So Denise - I'll be over for a swim in the pool on Friday July, 8th - mark your calendar!

Then I looked up how this planting by the moon thing works, and as I was reading I heard my father (in my head) tell me the basics of this system of planting. 

Above ground crops are planted during the light of the moon (new moon to full moon).  Below ground crops (root crops) are planted in the dark of the moon, (from the day after Full Moon until the day before New Moon).

There is a Chart for each area with favorable planting dates for each crop which corresponds to each region of the country.

So now I know what to expect this spring and summer!  All I can say is Mother Nature could be a bit kinder to us Manitobans any time soon.

Have you marked your calendar, Denise?