First time with rhubarb

[silkiechicken]

Ruhbarb! It's always tart but in crisps they are great.

I just pluck out all the big leaves as soon as the leafy part is well grown and the plant is about this big:

A 3 year old apple tree came in the black pot in the back. Hard to reference how large this plant really is. LOL

As for toxicity, I had a turkey poult eat about half that plant one year. No issues. LOL Belive the toxic bit is oxalic acid which is found in stuff like spinich... just don't go eating a ruhbarb plant.

 

[Happy Chooks]

OMG, it's going to get THAT big? I think I may have planted the 2 plants too close together. I didn't realize they get that big!

 

[silkiechicken]

They do get huge! But I know there are many types and I have no idea what type this is. It's a hand me down type that's who knows how old.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It's a hand me down type that's who knows how old.

Mine is a hand me down type too.

 

[silkiechicken]

Haha, maybe that is where all ruhbarb comes from. Hand me downs! I've probably randomly shoveled my plant in half 4-5 times in the decade it has lived in that particular garden spot. lol One year it was rototilled over and as a result of the injury, sent up that flower stalk. haha.

 

[TheBrumstead]

Oh how I love rhubarb...

However I have had a hard time finding it here. I just found a farm stand that has it for $2/lb. Guess where I'm going tomorrow... Time to can some rhubarb and make a rhubarb custard pie for Mother's Day!

I was so excited when we bought this house, I thought I saw rhubarb at the edge of the woods. Turns out it's burdock. It looks a lot like rhubarb, but if you snap the stem, it's hollow. Burdock is a useless, hard-to-get-rid-of weed and it still makes me sad when I see it because it's not rhubarb

I saw crowns for sale at Walmart last year. Now that I have a place to put it, I can't find any. No one on Craigslist/Freecycle with plants either.

ohhhh That sounds great I am going to try it ! My Girlfriend makes a strawberry rhubarb cake by just adding the strawberry rhubarb sauce then a yellow cake mix poured over and baked she flips it upside down with Whip cream ! ohhh so Good !

You can do this with leftover jam too!

 

[buckabucka]

My rhubarb is hand-me-down also. I always heard that you should only pick when the stalks are at least a foot long. Around here, the plant seems to get crowded quickly and shoot up so many flower stalks that I can't keep up with cutting them off. It probably needs dividing, but I have way more than I use, so I just let it be. Mine survives with little to no care.

I love rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb pie. I recently had some rhubarb chutney, and hope to try that this year.

 

[SweetSilver]

If this is the first year it has been planted, do not harvest. My grandmother always said it would not grow back if you do. I usually pair it with any strawberry or apple recipe. My families favorite is strawberry rhubarb crisp!

In fact, don't harvest it until it looks like that picture, sometimes up to 3 years depending. Do not harvest when they look like little miniature rhubarbs. You will never get a big plant that way. My MIL does this. She can not leave it well enough alone!

OMG, it's going to get THAT big? I think I may have planted the 2 plants too close together. I didn't realize they get that big!

They get even bigger. Don't worry about planting them close together. The crowns multiply anyway and each one will have a cluster of crowns. I wish I had a picture of ours last year. They were about 5 feet high and the row was about 10-12 feet long, 3 clusters of plants. Yes, plant them with plenty of room!

 

[Harry75]

WOW, BEAUTIFUL PLANT. MINE ALL DIED TOO MUCH WATER IN GROUND.

 

[Daisy8s]

Does anyone else think it's been an exceptional year for rhubarb? Both my plants and that of my neighbors are huge this year.

It got away from me this year so the stalks were huge. I peel the bigger stalks before using them. It's pretty simple. Just use a knife or vegetable peeler to start peeling all the way around at one end of the stalk and then pull down the strips the rest of the way by hand. Even my 5-yr-old son could do it using a kid's vegetable peeler--and he loves the shiny, curly strips.

I make a rhubarb-apple pie so the apple takes the edge off the sourness of the rhubarb.