Real Estate (Farm & Ranch Land)

🌌 Night Sky This Week 🌠

Night sky this week through May 15th, 2026, spring is definitely starting to make itself known. The evenings are getting longer, there’s still a bit of chill hanging in the air, and the stars are slowly shifting into their new seasonal lineup. It’s that in-between time where winter hasn’t quite let go, but spring is clearly taking over. It’s the perfect excuse to step outside for a few minutes and just look up.

🌙 Evening Highlights

May 2026 evening sky chart: planets Venus, Jupiter, stars Pollux, Castor. Dates May 18-20 noted. Horizon silhouette, text "Looking West."

Right after sunset, Venus is putting on a great show. It’s brilliant and hard to miss, often popping into view before the rest of the stars. Look toward the west-northwest, and it’ll be one of the first things you see. Just below it sits the reddish star Aldebaran, marking the eye of Taurus the Bull.

Higher up in the western sky, Jupiter shines bright and steady. It’s easy to spot and stick around for most of the evening before setting after midnight. If you’ve got binoculars, take a quick look, you might even catch its four largest moons lined up like tiny points of light. Over the next several weeks, Jupiter and Venus will appear to drift closer together, which is always fun to watch night by night.

🌅 Early Morning Highlights

If you’re up early or just getting in late, there’s still plenty to see before sunrise.

Night sky map with constellations Andromeda, Pegasus, Pisces, Aquarius, Aries. Moon, Mars, Saturn, Neptune labeled. Text: May 14, hour before sunrise.

Saturn rises about 45 minutes before the Sun in the eastern sky. It’s still pretty low, so you’ll need a clear horizon to spot it.

In the night sky this week, Mars sits a little lower and to the left, making it a bit trickier to pick out for now, but it’ll get easier as we move deeper into May. On Thursday morning, the thin crescent Moon will sit between Mars and Saturn, making for a really nice grouping in the dawn sky.

✨ Constellations

This is where the seasonal shift really starts to stand out.

Star map showing Gemini constellation, Pollux, Castor, and Jupiter. Text: "Dusk, May 8, 1 hour after sunset, Looking West, halfway up."

When you find Jupiter, notice the two bright stars nearby. The bright yellow-orange star is Pollux, a red giant only about 34 light-years away. The other bright white star is Castor, which is actually a multiple-star system located around 51 light-years from Earth.

Star map of Leo the Lion constellation with labeled stars Denebola and Regulus. "The Sickle" highlighted. Black background with blue lines.

Around 10 PM, look overhead, and you’ll spot Leo the Lion. It’s easy to recognize once you know what to look for—a backward question mark shape called the “Sickle,” with a triangle of stars trailing behind it. The brightest star here is Regulus, sitting right at the base of that question mark.

There’s some interesting history tied to Leo, too. In ancient Egypt, when the Sun moved into Leo, it lined up with the annual flooding of the Nile, bringing life-giving water to the region. That’s part of why lion imagery showed up so often in fountains built by the Greeks and Romans.

Night sky with Taurus constellation, including Crab Nebula, Hyades, Pleiades, and Aldebaran labeled. Silhouette of trees below.

Off to the west, Taurus the Bull is starting to dip lower each night. You can still pick out its V-shaped face, with Aldebaran glowing orange as the eye. It won’t be around much longer in the evening sky, so now’s a good time to take one last look before it fades into the sunset over the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, as Orion the Hunter slips away in the west, Scorpius the Scorpion begins rising in the southeast.

If you get a clear night, even just a few minutes outside can be worth it. This is one of those times of year when the sky feels like it’s in transition and you can actually watch it happen night by night.

Garden almanac

This Week in the Garden

This week in the garden (May 7), after a couple of hard freezes this week, the garden season can finally start rolling. The soil is warming up enough now for cool-season crops, so it’s a good time to get radishes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, and onion sets planted. You can also transplant cabbage and onion plants outdoors now without much worry.

Tomato leaf with purple veins caused by cool temperatures.

Tomatoes and peppers, though, still need a little patience. They really prefer nighttime temperatures above 50 degrees before they start growing well. Cooler nights can stunt them and even cause those purple leaves gardeners often notice from reduced phosphorus uptake. Vine crops like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and melons should wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 55 degrees.

Flowerbeds are in a similar situation. Hardy flowers like pansies, salvia, and bachelor buttons can handle the cooler weather and do just fine going out now. Marigolds and zinnias, on the other hand, are much happier once the weather settles down and the nights stay warmer.

If crabgrass has been a problem in your lawn before, this is the right time to apply a preemergent. For tougher weeds like foxtail and sandburs, plan on putting down a second application in about four weeks for better control through the summer.

Cedar apple gall, grey ball with orange tendrils) on a juniper branch.

In the next couple of weeks, you’ll probably start noticing those bright orange “spiders” showing up on cedar trees. Those are cedar apple rust galls releasing spores that can spread to apple trees through the wind. If rust has been an issue on your apple trees in the past, that’s the signal to spray with an all-purpose orchard spray and follow the label directions carefully.

White powdery substance on grass blades which is powdery mildew.

Several people have also mentioned seeing a white powdery coating on grass. Found especially on the north side of houses or under shade trees. That’s powdery mildew, a common lawn fungus this time of year. Avoid watering in the evenings, increase fertilization a bit, and try to improve airflow if possible. Long-term, planting grass varieties that are more resistant to powdery mildew is usually the best solution.

Garden almanac

This Week in the Garden

Rhubarb plants sending up a flower stalk along the side of a concrete building.
Rhubarb is sending up flower stalks (bolting)

This week in the garden (May 1st) is starting out pleasantly after the rainfall. There have been several questions lately about rhubarb bolting so early this season. What you’re seeing is the plant sending up seed stalks, and it’s mainly due to the swings in weather. It was those warm days followed by a quick return to cooler temps. It’s pretty common. The fix is simple: just go out and cut those flower stalks off right at the base of the plant. That helps the plant put its energy back into producing those nice, thick stalks you want to harvest. While you’re at it, giving the plant a boost with a bag of manure or some compost worked in around it will go a long way.

Map of South Dakota showing last frost dates throughout the state with Tripp County being between May 4th to 6th as the late frost date in the garden this week.

As for planting season, our average last frost date around here is May 8th. That doesn’t mean you’re completely in the clear—it just means there’s less than a 50% chance of a hard frost after that point. There’s still always a bit of a gamble, especially in South Dakota. So, if you’re itching to plant early, just know you’re rolling the dice a little before planting in the garden.

This week in the garden show a rhubarb plant with flower stalks next to a concrete foundation.
Honeycrisp apples

Apple trees are a great fit for this area, as long as you choose varieties that can handle our cold winters and the occasional late spring frost. Some of the most reliable options come out of the Upper Midwest, things like Honeycrisp, Haralson, Prairie Magic, and State Fair. These have proven they can take the cold and still produce good fruit year after year.

If your place is more exposed—out in the open with wind or in a colder pocket, it’s usually better to lean toward the tougher, more dependable trees like Haralson or Prairie Magic. They may not get as much attention as Honeycrisp, but they tend to show up and produce consistently. Some folks also like to include a crabapple, such as Dolgo crabapple. They’re extremely hardy and do a great job helping with pollination.

That brings up an important point, apple trees aren’t like sour cherries. Most apples are not self-pollinating, so if you want fruit, you’ll need at least two different varieties. They should bloom around the same time so bees can move pollen between them. An easy setup is two different apple varieties, or even one apple tree paired with a crabapple nearby.

So, the bottom line is this: apples grow well here if you pick the right varieties. You’ll want more than one tree to make it work. Once they’re established, they’re a rewarding addition and don’t require anything too complicated. Give them a decent spot with good sunlight and a little protection from the wind.

Each week, we’ll pick a different fruit tree and give a quick, practical rundown to help you decide what might work best in your yard, garden, or acreage.