On 4/27/07 1:27 AM, Tamara P Duvall wrote:
Aaargh... I sure do miss rhubarb (rabarbar)... It was one
of the most common sources of vitamin C when I was
growing up (other than onion. And it didn't stink up your
breath in the process <g>). Cake, compote, jam, yogurt...
But here it's rare and, when avilable at all (not
always), costs an arm and a leg for a few puny stalks...
Sob...
I was surprised, upon visiting the Rhubarb Compendium, to
learn that rhubarb is commercially cultivated in Washington,
Oregon, and Michigan -- I thought one had to grow one's own.
Alas, the Compendium also states:
> Rhubarb is a cool season, perennial crop.
> It requires temperatures below 40 F to break dormancy
> and to stimulate spring growth, and summer temperatures
> averaging less than 75 F for vigorous vegetative growth.
> The Northern U.S. and Canada are well suited for rhubarb
That pretty much lets out Virginia. But summers are
generally hotter than that here, and rhubarb engages in
vigorous vegetative growth anyway. Slows down in August,
but I think that's because August is dry.
> Once planted, rhubarb plantings remain productive
> for 8 to 15 years.
Make that 8 to 15 *generations* for home plantings. You
can't kill the stuff. (Well, getting drowned several times
in one spring came close to doing in mine. I hope it
regenerates this year.) (Just checked: both still alive,
but the lower plant has only one tiny leaf. The higher
might be able to spare a stalk late in the season.)
Rhubarb is easy to grow -- the huge leaves shade out most
weeds.
Vurra interesting -- I just called up the Gurney website,
put "rhubarb" into the search field -- and the first page of
results was four rhubarb plants -- and six hits on
strawberries!
Then I consulted three or four paper catalogs; all offer the
same three varieties, no mention of heat-tolerant varieties.
--
Joy Beeson
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather)
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
where the crabapple is in bloom.
Or maybe it's a haw tree -- I've signed up for "Tree I.D."
at the Becoming an Outdoorswoman Workshop.
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