Greetings from TN.  We had a beautiful day today, up to 70 degrees, but we will have more cold weather for sure.  I have planted my first fava beans for 2011.  The ones that I planted in the 50 feet raised bed with hoops and a row cover are finally starting to grow.  They have been sitting kind of dormant since planted in November….they must have gotten the signal from nature that it is finally time!  They are beautiful and I crawled down the middle of the 2 rows and weeded.

Also, was able to weed and remulch the 100 asparagus plants that were started from seed last year,  The spears are starting to pop thru the ground now.   A few spears broke off and were immediately enjoyed fresh and raw ….delicious!

We still haven’t found anyone to work at moving the big greenhouse that the neighbor gave us…but, there is a new person coming to look at it on Monday.  His wife has PD.    He helped a couple of days in the garden last summer, and we hope he will have a good idea how to get started.

I am looking forward to having more beautiful days to enjoy digging, planting, harvesting. Have started making a few arbors to plant vines on and create shaded places for people to sit thru-out the garden.

Also,  hope to find a source for old carpet to turn upside down and lay in the pathways…making a  smooth pathway for wheelchairs to travel on. I’ve read that the old carpet will hold up for several years before falling apart.   I will have a lot of work just keeping the raised beds weeded, without constantly fighting the weeds and grass growing in the pathways (which will be wide enough for 3 people side by side/ wheelchairs , and a wider loop that a golf cart and wagon can go thru to haul water/ mulch, etc…)

Aunt Bean