We grow two perennial edibles on Locust Hill, asparagus and rhubarb. They offer us the first fresh produce for the table each spring. I like asparagus, and now that I've discovered I can freeze the excess by merely washing and packaging it, I like it even more. As for rhubarb, I need to compensate for its tartness by adding gobs of sugar to make it edible. Hank, on the other hand, adores rhubarb. He froze so much of it last spring that there are still half a dozen packages in the freezer.
The one time we used up the year's supply of rhubarb was back in 1995 when we had a family reunion and served roast pig to 92 relatives. Because it was July, fresh applesauce was hard to come by so we served rhubarb as a condiment and added a couple of cans of applesauce to it. It was a great success with adults, but I remember overhearing one small boy say to his friend, "Don't take the applesauce, it's real stringy!"
I've always considered rhubarb a fruit, but botanically speaking, it really isn't. A fruit is the mature ovary of a flower. An apple is a pome fruit, a peach a drupe fruit, and a tomato is actually a berry fruit. Looked at botanically even cucumbers, squash, peppers and eggplants are all fruits, not vegetables. Most vegetables are made from roots, leaves, immature flowers or stems, as in the rhubarb.
Whether rhubarb's an animal, vegetable or mineral is immaterial when it comes to having one or two plants in the back yard. Since its seeds rarely produce plants true to type, the easiest way to propagate this perennial is the same way you would a peony, by dividing someone else's established plant and taking home a piece of the rhizome full of "eyes" or new buds.
Hank, who is not a gardener, knew my enthusiasm for rhubarb was limited, so he was the one to get some "eyes" from a friend and planted a clump on each front corner of the guest house. A few years later he divided them and a few years later he divided them again until we had an entire row. Who needs eight rhubarb plants?
As it turned out, they made a unique edging, their leaves so big that no grass or weeds can grow under them. Furthermore, they have magnificent large blossoms, white and fluffy. Most garden books recommend cutting these handsome flowers down before they bloom as they drain the plant of energy. Our plants are riddled with energy so we let them all bloom.
These perennials are easy to grow and keep producing for years and years. That means you should choose the place where you plant them carefully. Don't pick a spot that may someday be the new swimming pool or a tool shed. Give them full sun and good drainage. Mulch them with compost or manure mixed with straw, and wait a year before you start harvesting stems.
To harvest, grasp a stalk near its base and twist it away from the plant rather than cutting it with a knife. When your peas are ready to pick, stop picking your rhubarb. If you don't grow peas, you should. They're delicious fresh off the vine.
Rhubarb is a native of Tibet. When first introduced to the West, a few ignorant cooks served up the leaves instead of the stems. Many funerals followed. The foliage contains large amounts of oxalic acid, a substance poisonous to humans. It's also poisonous to sheep. One summer when our ewes escaped from the pasture they decided to try a little rhubarb. Fortunately not enough to kill them, but enough to make them glassy-eyed and unhappy.
Two of our ewes produced lambs last week. Here are the twins.
