• To best enjoy the peak season, check the Sakura forecast regularly.

March 1. Australians prefer not to begin their seasons when the equinox or solstice approaches; they'd rather start them right off at the beginning of the month so as to avoid confusion. Autumn, therefore, begins today in Australia, ready or not. The darkness approaches, the waning of the light, the drawing near of cold. As they say down under: Howling at nothing, keening in solitude, demons entering and disappearing; these are the very strangest of times.

March 2. A pheasant and cider soup can be made by chopping an onion and cooking it in butter, then breaking up the carcass of a pheasant and adding it in pieces. Cover with water, simmer for several hours, skimming off the fat and removing the bones as they disengage. What remains should be run through a mill, mixed with a half pint of old cider, and served with salt and pepper.

March 3. In Japan, forecasters analyze the weather to predict the opening of the cherry blossoms, issuing maps of their blossom forecasts so that the citizenry can anticipate hanami, an event in which large numbers of people gather to enjoy the blooming of flowers.

March 4. New moon, 12:47 p.m. Linger over nothing; grant little; invite variety; embrace hilarity and negotiate karma.

March 5. On this day in 1963, Patsy Cline boarded a plane with a sense of impending doom.

March 6. Potatoes planted in March will be ready to harvest by the Fourth of July. They require the very loosest of soil; an unruly pile of straw, rotting compost, dried leaves and the like will do just fine. Keep it watered and harvest with the utmost care, as there is nothing worse than impaling the largest, finest Yellow Finn upon the tine of a pitchfork. A fine potato bin can be constructed by simply rolling chicken wire into a cylinder, standing it upright, and filling it with a mixture of the aforementioned.

March 7. Some people, for that matter, sow carrot seeds in a deep container filled with loose, sandy potting soil, on the assumption that they are easier to supervise that way. Even a plastic tub will work, provided it has been drilled through the bottom to allow for drainage, although growing carrots in a plastic tub seems like a joyless proposition.

March 8. Your horoscope for today: A lunar transit increases confusion. A black crow signifies nothing. You remain unconvinced. A man may approach you with an unexpected offer. Dandies mask his quotient.

March 9. Astrologers believe that today is an ideal day to begin a diet to gain weight.