The Rhubarb of Doooom

[primsong]

Thinking of putting in a rhubarb plant now that my kids are older and I don't have to worry about them eating the leaves instead of the stems - thing is, rhubarb is kind of a permanent installation... I had a friend whose family decided to pave over an old garden area for additional parking in front of their house and after a couple years the asphalt kind of began to bulge and crack in one spot and then a rhubarb came up through the crack! Truly The Plant That Would Not Die.

Must be sure where it goes, because apparently it will Be There Forever.

Any of you have rhubarbs? Any opinions on red vs. pink vs. green stems? Or is it all cosmetic?

Comments

[estellye.livejournal.com]

My grandfather's rhubarb is one of the only things still the same at my grandparent's home since we sold the place. It is totally indestructible. They'd have to salt the earth to get rid of it, lol. Hopefully they are enjoying it, instead. It's so lush and green and made the best pies ever. Of course, Gramp planted it in a rather out of the way area so it wouldn't take over the world - the patch was getting just humongous last I saw it.

That was the red variety, but I am not aware of what qualities that indicates or how it differs from the pink and green.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

It seems to be an 'old fashioned' garden planting, like putting in rose-scented geraniums. I love that it's still there, a little snippet of your grandparent's time.

I'd only run into it as pie before, but now I'm finding recipes that use it stewed like you'd use applesauce, or chopped up and cooked with potatoes (Polish) or with spinach (Middle-eastern). More versatile as a 'veggie' than I'd thought!

[alouzon.livejournal.com]

It comes in colours other than red?
My grandfather planted some in our old garden (which is where the front yard is now), and it hasn't come back up, but the area was pretty thoroughly disc-ed before the grass went in. He planted some down in the ditch under a row of trees, and I imagine it's still there (may have to go take a look).

When we were small, we would pull up a stalk of rhubarb and ask Mom for some sugar to dip it in. We were never inclined to eat the leaves (I didn't know it was dangerous). For me, the danger was carrots. When I was three, I pulled up every carrot in our very large garden and ate them all on the spot. I turned a lovely shade of orange, and gave my Mom a heart attack in the process.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

LOL! I'd heard if you drank too much carrot juice you turned yellow, but had never seen it sworn to by personal experience. Your poor mom - oh goodness... ! And yup, they come in different sizes and different colours - researching some more, I find people swearing the green are sweeter than the red, though the red look nicer - but it may be a moot point as the main variety for my region seems to be a red one anyway. I'll be a rhubarb expert by the end of this.

[alouzon.livejournal.com]

No harm done of course, but if carrots actually were good for improving eyesight, I should be able to see through walls.

How much rhubarb were you planning on planting?

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Being a rhubie-newbie I figure only one or two...maybe two so if one doesn't 'take' I don't get too depressed about it. If they do well, maybe more next time around! They're pretty big and need water, so I'm somewhat limited as my big fir trees hog a lot of the sun and rain. We'll see!

[alouzon.livejournal.com]

my big fir trees hog a lot of the sun and rain
I've seen a tree skirt designed to water trees over a longer period of time -- you may want to take a look at this website (this store has lots of quirky interesting things, including really cool gardening products):

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/index.aspx?c=

And they ship to the States!

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Yay! Another fun garden goodies site! I love browsing around through these. Something like a 'skirt' might be nice for the new figs and filberts out at the other end of the yard until they get established. Hm...

[adaras-r0se.livejournal.com]

Can you plant rhubarb in a big pot, rather than in the ground? That way you can move it around to wherever you fancy, and don't have to worry about some kind of rhubarb triffid taking over!

[primsong.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting thought! They get pretty big, but I really don't know much about what type of root-system they have, I'm going to look into it... I could have it closer to the house then so it would be easier to water, seeing as they're apparently waterhogs. Thanks!

[thisbluespirit]

I have no idea about rhubarb whatsoever, but your title made me think 'what a lovely idea for a daft Dw fic'. once you've investigated the full evilness of rhubarb, you coud explore it in prose? :lol:

*smiles hopefully*

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Ahhh! XD You're right! Hm. Giant rhubarb invades UNIT? Rhubarb is the cure for an alien plague? The possibilities...!

[thisbluespirit]

Somehow I instinctively saw it is as a Two story, but Capt Yates and Sergt Benton have already faced one horticultural problem - I'm sure they'd be up to it. :lol:

[infiniteviking]

Hahaha, everlasting rhubarb!

I've always liked the look of the red stems. No idea what the difference is, though.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

The more I read the more I'm thinking it's just cosmetic - both red and green have adherents that swear one or the other is sweeter. Looks like a red variety is the best one for my area, so red it is - I'm kind of pleased with that as it makes up my mind for me and has the decorative value as well.