Growing Rhubarb--easy short season northern home garden fruit fresh sauce

rhubarb's

wonderful pink start emerging from the winter mulch as soon as

the snow recedes. it ann the promise of spring

the first batch of rhubarb sauce long before the are enough to

rhubarb

last year i tried to hurry a plant along by putting a frame over it before

the snow had melted. but rhubarb is such a hardy soul that the plants outside

the are the edible part of the rhubarb

herb

consider it as a fruit because that's the way i use it. it's the only fruit that

is readily available from spring through fall

though the plants

give your plants some extra care

need be. as a child i had often enjoyed a of rhubarb while playing

you buy rhubarb roots

crown from anyone

used tractor from a couple who had just dug up a long row of rhubarb

planted them all. as we didn't have a place in our new garden

than we could use. rhubarb seed doesn't come true to type

when we moved our garden

rhubarb responded to this kindness by producing harvests of

more than the 25 plants had before. it's amazing what a little

occasionally i spread a little compost on the plot in the late fall

extra

takes care of itself. the five plant patch has thrived

is still going strong

times i dug out a shovel-full of root when i noticed the getting thinner

my favorite attributes of the rhubarb plant is that it doesn't need

weeding. how you not like a plant like that! the

break off the and tuck them under the plant. occasionally a stubborn

perennial weed might get a toe-hold

feet apart

plants easily ke the grass out of the compost bins

corner edge of our permanent bed garden

rhubarb was planted along the outer side of the bins. we simply mowed along

garden. the rest of the perimeter between field and garden needed to be kept

hoed to keep the grass back

a major garden renovation years ago ended

the garden. i simply dug and transplanted shovel fulls of rhubarb root

you'll need to wait until the plant is producing

though rhubarb is often thought of as a spring crop

then

source between the last of the apples in the spring and the first of the

apples in late summer

arrive. in mid-summer when the rhubarb start getting spongy and the

the plants and they produce a second flush of harvestable stems. you don't want

to feed its roots. i harvest thumb size and larger stalks

er ones to supply the plant. if you pay attention to your plants

little extra care

it's generally advised to keep the flower picked

i cut the flower when the bloom is done and seed forming. the plant is thankfully quite hardy and seldom bothered

rhubarb sauce is easy. cut up a supply of add a little water

rhubarb is that it does take a fair amount of sweetening to be comfortably

palatable. our favorite is maple syrup

when other fruits start bearing the rhubarb in helps extend those harvest

adds a great deal of flavor

but strawberry-rhubarb sauce is probably our favorite

the sauce be used in many ways

palatable rhubarb wine be made

reconstitute into mushy little pieces

need such extra work anyway as it is so easily available

from the garden -- quenching many thirsts and custom made

working-in-the-garden snacks

is watched carefully though it needs nothing from the gardener. we taste

harvest. of course

dormancy

the frame ke pace

hardiest and easiest to grow

outside

the were usually

wanting to get rid of it. after chaining the tractor on the trailer

to our place

the field sod along the fence

treatment and soil

is not very viable

soil do. feed your soil

many meals from this plot

self-mulching -- while growing and as they die. when i harvest the i

however

their outer edge and they ke the field from encroaching into the compost bins

into its new bed in late fall

was established

stems before harvesting much

yellowing

leaving the

to harvest all of the at any time

know if you're taking too much. but it's a very soul

itself

bees love them

bit to add to theirs. plus the sprays are attractive in their own right

diseases

sweetening

elegantly complicated. we use it most often

can it. you can even it though i

wouldn't recommend that

stretch. it can't be beat as a and lively pick-me-up when eaten right