Are You Fooling? It's April!

"Hail April, the Medea of the year,

That makest all things young and fresh appear."

R. Chambers, The Book of Days, 1866

It's the first day of April. Each day, spring grows stronger in its fight against winter. And our gardens start to look especially lovely after months of gray, dreary days.

The colorful bulb garden (above) belongs to my neighbors, Elaine and Pat McCoy. Stroll around their suburban garden and you can tell Elaine was trained as a master gardener in Idaho. The soil is amended each year with well-aged cow manure, and they are meticulous about cleaning up debris that might have overwintered pests and pathogens.

The effort shows in the McCoy's thriving gardens. I shot this picture last year around mid-April. Wait until you see how lovely their vegetable garden will look in a few months. These two are experts at growing loads of edibles in a small amount of space. Most of which they started from seeds.

And I'm not fooling! Even though today is called "All Fool's Day."

Incidentally, is it stormy where you are? That's not a bad thing, according to this old proverb:

"If it thunders on All Fools' Day

it brings good crops of corn and hay."