As a remnant of my chemo I also have neuropathy. In the beginning I had trouble with hands, arms, lips and of course my feet. Gradually it improved and the only remaining problem are the soles of my feet, but not enough to impair me. This most likely is permanent, since I also got since then diabetes 2 which also may cause neuropathy. For about a year I ran around with a couple of squishy balls which I used while walking, watching TV etc. I never heard of loss of the use of limbs. Is it possible to have your son seen by a Neurologist? Oh, if he has trouble walking, make him wiggle his toes as much as possible while sitting, I do this to this day and my doctor says it has a lot to do with the fact that I still can walk as fast and much as I do. Hope he feels better soon.

Hi Susan, might you have any suckers of Dr. Huey sprouting from under any of your roses? Or, might you have some long whips of any other climbing or bush rose you're going to prune off anyway? The two things you want to practice before tackling the "good stuff" are lifting the bark from the cambium layer without going through it into the pith and removing the growth buds with cambium on them without a slice of pith. If you grab your budding knife, razor blade or whatever you're going to use and then start performing surgery on rubbish to practice, it'll help you determine when the sap is sufficiently flowing so the bark slips (separates) from the pith easily and how to do the operations without destroying the cambium. That's the bright green, juicy layer between the bark and the pith. It's the circulatory system of the plant and the tissue that differentiates, calluses and either becomes roots when rooting or knits the bud to the stock. I don't know of any which are more successful being budded, but if you start with larger buds, they're generally easier to hold on to. You want to match the width of the bud to the width of the stock. Putting a large HT bud on an eyebrow pencil gauge stock won't work. The curve of the bud has to fit the curve of the stock for best results. With practice, you'll find you can do all the things everyone tells you won't work, but to start out, doing those which are most likely to succeed will feed your confidence until you feel comfortable experimenting. I always try to stack the deck in favor of success first so you'll gain that confidence quickly and begin doing all the "Dr. Moreau" stuff when you feel ready. If your cuttings are thinner, look around for canes of those you might want to replicate and see what you can find that pretty much matches the same gauge or thickness. You'll be surprised how small a bud you can use and have it work. You can also try grafting pieces of stem to them as that also works. That's how mini trees are made as they have such small buds, using a piece of stem with buds is much faster, easier and has greater chances of success. Sequoia used to graft the stem pieces to the stocks then root them under mist so all the operations were accomplished at one time and all growth and knitting occurred simultaneously. It was fascinating to a newbie as I was when Ralph showed that to me. Feel free to play with Purple Buttons if you'd like. I'm glad she's working for you. I love the scent and color of that one. Thanks. Kim

Wow! Thank you so much for your replies and all the great information. I'm trying to go through it all and compare to what I was thinking about doing. We don't have a tractor or high tunnels but those are things I am trying to get as soon as possible. It seems that everyone has a bit different definition of what a bed is. I live on 5 acres and right now we have one plot that is 100x75' (the length of our mainline is 100') and a second one that is 70x60'. We will be expanding next year to have a third 50x100' plot and extending the current ones to 100x100' and 70x100. I really like the idea of permanent beds because right now we till the entire plot and then I have to create and map out the beds every season which takes a lot of time and effort. I would really like to just till the bed and have a more permanent path in between. I think I may go with either 30" or 36" for bed size. I am just trying to maximize space efficiency in the beds. I agree the diamond pattern is the best way to fit the most plants in. Jay and brookw, what size bed do you use? Your row spacing sounds similar to what I was thinking. For those of you who have a permanent or standard bed, what do you do about things like trellised tomatoes, peas and crops like potatoes that are planted in a single row? That's why I was thinking of having several different bed sizes. As for starting crops in the spring I was planning to start brassicas, bulb onions, green onions, peas, carrots and beets in mid-April. Is that too soon? Should I use row covers? My last frost date is 5/15 and the first market is June 15th. This past year I didn't have anything to sell at the first few markets except plant starts because I planted everything too late and then critters ate my peas. I would like to have produce at the first market next year. (I don't grow greens except a small amount of spinach and kale because there is a greens specialist at the market and the bunnies always eat them all before they get to harvestable size.) Thank you all for the succession planting information. Carrots sold like crazy this year so I want to plant a ton more of them. I never thought to succession plant the cucurbits. Thank you for the chart, little_minnie! I will have to compare it to the notes I have for my plants. I'll be back with more questions and thoughts. Thank you again for giving me so much to think about.

Julie...I am not sure I understand the idea of a Christmas 'card' in the front yard..could you explain a little more what you are trying to do? pm2