Oh, rhubard! How I long to grow it! My mother gave me a huge amount of roots last spring and we made a raised bed in partial shade but we had so much rain that it didn't survive the winter except for two tiny plants. At least that's a start! But I had high hopes I could grow it down here and they have been dashed! If I was successful I could sell it all in a flash at market! But I love it cooked into a sauce and poured on top of vanilla ice cream!!! Yummy!

Mine is coming good too. I am going to buy some strawberries at the groc. store tonight and make a strawberry/rhubarb pie tomorrow. No, I do NOT have a strawberry bed. I have better things to do than pick berries. LOL

I hear ya, but i like my berries ripe and usually the ones you buy aren't!

Got more veggies to plant today at the local nursery. Might as well get all this stuff planted. Hope to today and tomorrow. I have enough to open my own farm stand!

Gah...............just got done digging up my hostas. Taking them up to DS#1 and his GF so she can plant them on the east side of their new house. Save them some money on landscaping, and I get rid of them. The bed where I had them is no longer in the shade, due to the wind blowing down part of the shade tree there and us having to cut the rest of it down before it landed on the house. So they weren't really at their optimum anymore since they were in direct sun all day. Actually made me sweat a bit.

On Monday the 5th I had surgery to repair a hernia, so my gardening has been limited to shuffling out to the greenhouse to do some watering yesterday, and plotting in my mind how I can help my neighbor get 600 pounds of potatoes planted without straining anything. I have a 10 pound lifting limit until ?, at least until I see the Doc again on the 20th, but here is what I have decided I can do to help with potato planting. I can carry pieces of potato in a plastic grocery bag, walk along the string line and drop them through a 3 ft piece of plastic pipe so they land in the right place, then pat them down with my foot, and take another step. Easy. Ryan is using a single bottom walking plow (push as he walks) to fold the soil over one side, then comes back on the other side of the row to add more soil. These are organic potatoes that can be sold to upscale markets and restaurants in the cities. He bought a potato digger to pull behind his small tractor, which may also work for the garlic. We got some rain last night, so planting will be delayed for a couple of days at least.

Mary, take it easy. Even Stan behaved himself after his hernia surgery years ago and it was to his benefit. When he was back, he was back full steam. We hired a neighbor to milk, an Amishman who had worked on a large farm for a time. It was winter, and he wore a watch cap all the time. He's about 5 foot tall and the cap was kind of peaked on him. With his hat and beard and minimal stature he looked like nothing so much as a gnome. For six weeks, we were half way to a fairy tale.
Anyway, behave yourself!

I was thinking gnome!

I'm very tired of sweat pants and a bathrobe, but I know my jeans would not be comfortable.

When I had my knees done, i couldn't wear jeans for months, but of course, it was a different area that bothered.

It's very warm here. If I planted myself out by the forsythia, I could probably watch the leaves unfurl. Guess I'll get some lunch then go out and clip some more dead rose canes.

>> I can carry pieces of potato in a plastic grocery bag, walk along the string line and drop them through a 3 ft piece of plastic pipe so they land in the right place, then pat them down with my foot, and take another step.

The plastic pipe is a great idea!

Maybe tucking the grocery bag through your belt, or tying one handle to some string that goes over your shoulder will free up one hand.

Mary, perhaps even leaning left and right, or balancing on foot, causes some strain on your sutures. Using a hoe as a cane to steady yourself may take some strain away from your torso and upper legs. You could tie or tape the pipe to the hoe handle, to make both a one-hand-tool.

Maybe you could use the hoe to tamp down the soil, instead of one foot, if indeed that pampers your surgery at all.

SOME movement keeps you in shape after surgery, but I believe that the earliest healing goes faster when there is almost no pulling or stretching. Take care of yourself, and when you see the doc again, he or she will smile instead of frown.

Mary, Stan said to tell you that going back to work one day early will set you back a week. Apparently he wasn't as good as I thought he was....

Thanks for the suggestions, Rick, and Stan (via Kathleen) for the caution. I have already said ouch today when doing an involuntary stretch. Yesterday's ouch was when I was trying to carefully lower myself into a too-low chair. The surgery was done laparoscopically, so I have 3 small incisions instead of one large one. I opted for the procedure with the shortest recovery time. One hole was for a camera, and I think the other two were for the actual surgical instruments. None of those holes are where the hernia was. The procedure was to pull the escaped tissue back through the hole it had found, then apply a mesh patch so it couldn't escape again. So I have 4 sore places. I'll try to be very careful. Today I got a card from the hospital, thanking me for choosing that hospital to have my surgery, and signed by the nurses, some of whom I remember, and some I never saw as I was out like a light seconds after I was rolled out of my room.

I'm still waiting to see hummingbirds. My feeder is up, tulips and lilacs are blooming. What is keeping those little guys?

Just take it easy!

>> trying to carefully lower myself into a too-low chair.

Yeah, those will kill us someday! Airports and even doctor's offices seem to have a fixation on seating people just as close to the floor as a limber teenager can squat.

"Help, I sat down and can't get up!"

I save any thick, stiff foam pads from shipping packages at work. Then I set 1-2 thick foam pads on chairs out in the yard, so I can sit down and then get back up without renting a derrick.

Just like giving kids a telephone book so they can eat at "the grown-up's tables".

In theory, they make a medical foam pad material for seats, but that's more like PosturePedic foam for paralyzed wheel-chair seating 16 hours per day without bed sores. You sink in deep and it's priced so that only insurance companies can afford it.

It helps to tie 2 pads together so they are thick enough but you can still carry them with one hand.

The really stiff ffoam pads give a little spring action when I stand back up, like an ejection seat. BOIIINGGG.

Mary, as much as you want to help your neighbor plant potatoes, I think it would be a mistake. My best friend tried to go back to activity after hernia surgery and paid the price. I know it seems hard to WAIT, but in the long run it will be worth it. Even if you THINK you are okay, any turning, pulling, stretching will set you back.

Just saying...

I have not attempted to sit in that chair again! I think it would need several pads to bring it up to a comfortable height. So far it is the only seat in the house that has given me a problem. Thank God it isn't the toilet!

Rick, ha, BOINNNNGGG!

It's still rainy here. Not hard rain, just a system that reminds me of the west side of the Cascades. Lawn is growing fast and there is nothing I can do about it. When it can finally be mowed it will be more than I can do. There will be about double the amount of clippings for the asparagus rows. Spring is a lousy time to have surgery.

Yes, but when you farm, no time is a good time to have surgery.

My husband has had numerous surgeries, and he always reserves October for his slice-n-dice month. Gives him the winter to recoup and hopefully get back on the golf course by spring. Does involve giving up the ski season, though.

I delayed mine because of lambing season. Then by the time I could see the Doc for another pre-op appointment, and get scheduled for surgery, I had already lost another month. By law, the surgery has to be within 30 days of the pre-op. You're right, Arlene, there is no good time for it.

First hummer sighting today! He was visiting my feeder and the lilac bush. Hummers always show up here when the lilacs bloom.