WOO HOO! Finished the fourth and last garden bed today! Now they are ready to be sectioned off and, in May, planted.
Progress on the other plants, too. A second eggplant seed sprouted and the marigold seedlings are coming along great. The lettuce is just peeking above the ground too. And all four of the rhubarbs have sent up leaves -- they live! they thrive!
Rhubarb looks kind of like red celery or Swiss chard. It grows in bunches of stalks that have deep green leaves. The stalks range from green to deep magenta red. (The green ones are the most tart.) You cut the stalks in the late spring and summer, and then let the plant replenish itself for the rest of the year. Only the stalks are edible; the leaves are poisonous (although it seems in the 1800's they were used medicinally.) Sometimes around here (Maryland) you can get it fresh in the supermarket or at a farmer's market. The plant comes back, year after year. My grandmother has plants that could be 70 years old -- they're huge!
The stalks are not eaten raw, and are too tart to eat by themselves. (In The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder tells how, as a new bride, she learned this lesson the hard way. She calls rhubarb "pieplant" in that book.) But with a little sugar, they can be chopped up and stewed, jellied, baked in pies or crisps, or frozen for later. Rhubarb also marries well with other fruits, especially strawberries.
A slice of rhubarb pie is one of life's sublime pleasures. The jingle from Bebopareebop Rhubarb Pie? It's all true. I'll be harvesting my first rhubarb next May or June. I can't wait.
