The Rhubarb – A Little History and Some Growing Instructions
Rhubarb is an herbaceous perennial, a member of the buckwheat family. The plant possesses an extraordinary tolerance for both cold and drought. It is hardy to Zone 3 and can be grown in colder climates if mulched. It can adapt to warmer climates where the plants simply die back in summer and resume growth in the fall. It probably originated in the desert region of Siberia around the Volga River Basin. The name, rhubarb, comes from Rha, the name Muscovites gave to the river Volga, and barbarum, a reference to the barbarous people that lived in the region.
Rhubarb is also known as “wild strawberry” and “pie plant”. In 1770, Benjamin Franklin who at the time was living in London shipped a crate of rhubarb to Philadelphia to his friend, John Bartram, the preeminent botanist of his time. It is generally agreed that 1770 was the year that rhubarb was introduced into the United States. It was not for another 60 years that the root gained popularity in the US. Some say this was because many folk associated the plant with “tincture of rhubarb” a strong laxative that grandmother might have forced on them.The present variety first appeared in American seed catalogues in 1828.
Rhubarb lasts at least 20 years, so choose a place in the garden where they can remain permanently. To grow rhubarb from roots, plant the roots as soon as the soil is workable. In southern climates, fall planting is also practicable. Dig a series of holes that are three feet apart from center to center. Dig the holes two feet deep and two feet across. Line each hole with 6-8 inches of well-rotted cow manure and then begin to fill the holes with a mixture of equal parts compost and soil.
Set the roots, one per hole, so that the tops of the roots lie 3-4 inches below the surface of the soil and finish filling the hole with the soil-compost mixture. Mound the dirt about 2-3 inches above the soil’s surface as the dirt will settle with time and watering. Do not harvest the stalks during the first year. In the fall, mulch with decomposed cow manure. In the spring, remove the mulch, and fertilize with a fertilizer high in nitrogen, then replace the mulch. During the second year, harvest lightly by grasping the base of a stalk and pulling sharply. Do not cut stalks as large clumps left by cutting encourage disease. Beginning in the third year, harvest only for about eight weeks.
Immediately after harvesting a stalk cut off the leaves. The stalks will retain their moisture much longer. To maximize the plant’s productivity, at least every five years, the roots need to be dug up and divided.
https://harvesting-history.com/the-rhubarb/
My long beans are coming in nicely. Cooked some of them in some fried rice this morning... Delicious
These little bad boys went into my fried rice as well:
Yum!
Fry Rubarb flowers for Turkish delight.
“Never touch another man’s rhubarb.”
The Joker
CLICK ON THE PICTURE!
Good morning and happy gardening to all.
Ahh ... rhubarb! My brother, as a young teenager, went to Canada with an elderly gentleman & some family for a couple of months to help out (be the ‘muscle’) with work that needed to be done at a cabin on a big lake. A young (late teens, early 20’s) Mennonite girl went along as a cook. My brother had a wonderful time - worked 1/2-3/4 a day, then went fishing and/or swimming. He slept on a screen porch - cool nights, but great sleeping with plenty of blankets.
So what does this have to do with rhubarb? My brother came home after his months in Canada with 2 things: a Canadian accent and a LOVE for rhubarb pie. Evidently the Mennonite cook was a veritable whiz at all things pie, rhubarb in particular. My poor mom was tasked with learning to make rhubarb pie, but hers were never close to the Mennonite pies. To this day, my brother gets rhubarb pie or cobbler on special occasions.
Fog advisory this morning, then rain in the forecast the next 2-3 days. I checked on the garden (herbs & tomatoes only planted) last evening & all the plants look super happy. I would like to put down weed barriers around the tomatoes today & maybe sow some seeds (radishes, etc).
This year, there is a pair of crows hanging around. I see them daily in the field in front of the house & they like the bird bath that is fairly close to the garden. They’ve been in the pasture where the garden is located, walking around & picking up bugs, worms, etc. So the garden fences need to go up fairly soon - the crows are curious & will be in the garden checking things out before I know it. The ‘murder’ of crows hanging around had grown to 11, so only 2 is a change.
The bluebirds nesting nearby have made my big trellis in the garden a favorite high spot to perch - the males are in breeding plumage & super blue, just gorgeous.
After a month or so absence, the deer have returned. So far the damage is minimal.
Do deer eat Rhubarb?
More wildlife - we are overrun with squirrels this year (I haven’t been doing any trapping). Several have gotten very bold & are coming up on the front porch - my mom chased one off the other day.
So the most comfortable place for my leg/knee is on the couch where I also have a great view straight out the front storm door. There have been visitors....
Just now, a squirrel jumped up on the storm door glass - hit it with a pretty good ‘bang’ so obviously wasn’t trying to climb, but come in! There was another squirrel with it on the porch - I had to get up & chase them off - cheeky little buggers.
Of course, there was the little fox kit who also hit the glass one night around 11 & was peeking in for a few seconds - super cute. A very handsome male Cardinal also visits a couple of times a day - seems to like hanging out at the top of the steps on the porch, occasionally on the railings.
The rain showers have arrived - noticed it was raining when chasing the squirrels off the porch.
Things are starting to heat up in SoCal (95 today!!) so I am entering the maintenance phase of gardening, no more planting. Too bad for the early heat, I know I'll lose my winter plantings early (usually last until July 1st).
Meanwhile:
One of the plants that can tolerate our high heat and hot winds in the bougainvillea.
This is "orange king."
And "royal purple" (that flops over my back fence)
Cactus can also take the heat, but their blooms are short-lived:
These are very very old - and bloomed for the first time after I repotted them in designated cactus soil:
I had never seen this one bloom before - after 25 years:
First plumeria of the season:
And, of course, my favorite hollyhocks:
And my helpers!
Relaxing in the California poppies while mom waters:
She is often hard to spot, but loves to hang out in the garden:
And, lastly, in honor of my late husband, my new weathervane:
“Rhubarb is just celery with high blood pressure.” - anonymous
Trying to figure out where to place my tomato plants and recalled one being determinate so I figured I could stick those on the back side of the fence I have peas trained to and they’d be inter-planted with Ice Queen head lettuce which will be gone before the tomatoes get too big.
Problem is, a couple of websites say Rosella is determinate and other websites say indeterminate. RareSeeds where I got them doesn’t specify determinate/indeterminate for their maters. In the comments section most people talk like it’s indeterminate but one person said they grow like a determinate.
This spot I want to put them will be tough to access once plants are full size so I figured determinate would work well there. Some websites say they’re small enough for containers. Some actually list Dwarf Rosella but I don’t know if they’re something different or not. Some comments on RareSeeds talk like they get huge. Pics aren’t much help. Most people take pics of the clusters or individual fruits. Just about all of the whole plant pics are labelled dwarf rosella or are obvious that they’re not full grown plants.
Make up my mind people.
Rareseeds has them at 24” spacing. Guess I’ll look up the other five varieties and see what’s said about them for size. Either that or stick some peppers back there and put tomatoes in the open. Just gotta check peas/lettuce/peppers compatibility.
Not in the mood to share
Last year, I bought 6 Glaskin's Perpetual Rhubarb roots, and put them into well prepared soil, with a full sack of composted steer manure each. 3 survived, and are doing well now. I've tried to order replacements, but everyone was sold out of roots.
Glaskins Perpetual as it will produce rhubarb late in the season when other varieties are not good to eat. The stems are striped pink and soft green colour and are sweeter than most other varieties. I personally think this is the best all round rhubarb which though it doesn't have the big bright pink stems of other varieties it more than makes up for it in flavour and long picking time. The reason one needs to be careful eating rhubarb at the end of the season is the oxalic acid levels in the plants can become quite high. Oxalic acid is what gives late beetroot an unpleasant sour aftertaste and Glaskins Perpetual is particularly low in this regard. You will be familiar with the taste if you grow leaf beets like Swiss chard or perpetual spinach as the same oxalic acid is found in their leaves.
I used to eat rhubarb raw out of the neighbor’s garden when I was a kid. He’d yell at me that it was poisonous but I had already eaten plenty of stalks by then. Never ate the leaves.
My refrigerator is never without a jar of strawberry-rhubarb jam...
My wife makes strawberry rhubarb pie 3-4 times a year...
We discovered strawberry-rhubarb pie back in 1975 when the five of us (the three kids were with us) were eating in the Marie Callender’s restaurant on Sahara (Las Vegas)...
Komatsuna, red and green leaf lettuces, a few collard leaves, red and green mustards.
The chard is just too tiny but looks so good with it's red stalks and leaf veins. Got a few in the garden and a bunch in seed trays that can be planted soon.
I guess I should go hunt for some dandelion greens to add to the above. I need to learn about other wild salad greens around here too.
10 Vegetables You Should ALWAYS Grow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3waibCUoKo
Aussie guy has a heck of a raised bed system. He’s also got a sense of humor. 13:44 minutes