Heavy winds and weeds herald spring in New Mexico

In some parts of the world, the arrival of spring may be a bit subtle. Here in eastern New Mexico, it’s pretty plain. Just look for a brown tinge to the sky and reduced visibility.

The wind is a given in the springtime around here and because it arrives before enough rain arrives to establish ground cover the dust starts to blow and we have sandstorms. Some years the rain doesn’t arrive and we can have brown skies all the way through May.

That might sound a bit like I’m of the glass-half-empty crowd, but that isn’t so. In between those three-day spring blows we can have some of the prettiest blue skies and traditional spring weather you could ever hope for. The secret is managing your days so that you can fully take advantage of spring.

For instance, I knew I was going to have to mow and in so doing I would stir up a mini sandstorm of my own. Obviously you want to do that work during the windy days since it’s going to be dusty anyway. You might as well have a breeze to cool you down.

If your plan is to lounge on the patio with a book or hit the fishing hole, wind isn’t necessary and can even be a hindrance. I want to turn the page myself, not leave it to the wind.

Because we’ve undergone more than a year of restrictions in Portales that didn’t allow watering there really wasn’t a lot to mow. I noticed a few dandelions had flowered but fewer than normal. I had some of that tall native grass jump up with stems 12 inches long after my last mowing last year and somehow they’ve managed to stand erect in my front yard all year, so they had to go.

I also had mustard weeds up pretty tall in the back yard. Usually by this time of year there’s three times as many and they’re thriving. The mustard weeds, like the dandelions, look a little pitiful with no rain and no irrigation. I am happy to report that the grass burrs in my front yard are greening up rapidly and starting to flower.

The other thing that I found with a toehold in my front yard were some short, daisy-looking wildflowers that were blooming in a small patch in the corner of the yard. I carefully mowed around them. If I could get some yellow dandelions and some purple hen’s bit to come up in the same area I could throw a border around it and call it a flowerbed.

The other sure sign of spring, at least for me, is when the elm trees put out seeds. My eyes begin to itch and water and my throat gets clogged as soon as the buds appear and the symptoms don’t go away until those useless trees get fully leaved.

They grow fast, they grow anywhere and they offer shade on a shadeless plain, but I hate them with a passion. I’m sure I’ll get hate mail for this, but if it was left to me I’d take a chainsaw to every dang one of them. I know from experience even that won’t kill them.

I guess maybe my glass was sorta half empty after all. But I’ve poured out the dregs and I’ll try to make sure it’s at least half full next week.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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