It’s that time of the year when the sun shines so brightly and calls us outside to entice us into dreaming about fresh flowers and vegetables. The flowers are easier. They seem to be ready to put up with the daily temperature shifts and the uncertainty of the wind and its cool breezes. Vegetables in mid-April in many parts of the country are still too finicky for our inexperienced meteorological decision-making. We are better off skimming the catalogs and visiting the markets.

This weekend marks the opening of many farm market sites that have been sitting dormant since early November. The crowds today attest to the potential, the excitement of someone bringing to market just-picked vegetables from our area. Even with the early morning chill still cast over the customers eagerly clutching their own reusable bags, there was more excitement about welcoming back the vendors than guffawing over their products. Because of the irregular, (translate as rough, cold, and wet) winter, many of the regulars had little to show for their maiden trip to town. They were full of promise, and most visitors were eager to greet and plan for future weeks when more than local asparagus would grace the tabletops.There were plenty of starter plants, both vegetables and herbs, for the home gardener to purchase and plant but minimal in the just-picked category.

Patience for all. Asparagus for now.