This is the first time I've heard that rhubarb plants has a short life span and that they should be covered in winter. Is your rhubarb a special type? Could our rhubarb be a cousin to the ones that have shorter lives? We inherited a rhubarb plant when we moved in 15 years ago, and it's still going strong. We chuck cut grass, leaves, fertilizer and compost on it as the season progresses, and my husband makes rhubarb wine. The girls chew on the stalks, and I try to rescue some to make rhubarb soup or dessert but when I have time to do it there aren't many stalks left. Most of the (old) gardens in our neighbourhood has rhubarb. The fattest one lives near an old barn and has the biggest leaves I've ever seen so I guess the earth's saturated with goodies.
I always thought that Rhubarb had a very LONG life Droopy. Around here, Rhubarb is the only thing left growing to indicate that a house once existed. My own Rhubarb came from an abandoned farmhouse that had huge patch. It has moved with me twice and is going strong. I do not cover it or make a fuss and it survives my zone 5 winters just fine.
Rhubarb...we probably have 3 hills of that. I've never made a pie from it, only because I'm not a big pie maker I guess. I just cook it up on the stove, I suppose thats what Droopy calls rhubarb soup. I'll cut a few stalks off and take into our fair here in our exhibit building in about another week. Droopy--Question? You say your girls chew the stalks. I never heard of just eating the stalks-I always thought it had to be cooked to eat. Color me dumb here But its alright to just eat stalks without cooking????
Nice rhubarb Netty! Petunia, we've always done it so I guess it's alright. At least I'm still alive although I'm probably a bit weird in my behaviour. Maybe I'll blame it on the raw rhubarb I ate when I was little. We give the girls a cup with a tiny bit of sugar in it, and they peel the stalks and dip them in the sugar before eating them. They never manage to eat a whole stalk of course, since it's very sour-tasting.
Chewing the stalks Whenever my sister and I went to visit my grandmother's house, one of our favorite things was to grab a stalk while we played outside and eat it. We loved the tartness. Thankfully she had a big enough mound of it that what V (my sister) and I ate wouldn't deplete the stalks she needed for baking.
We have always eaten the stalks raw. My MIL kept complaining that my kids were always eating her rhubarb(tightwad) '' '' So now I have my own patch and hers goes to waste every spring! I have a great rhubarb bar recipe if anyone wants it PM me and I'll post it in the recipe forum. Nevermind the PM. I went ahead and put it up. I hope you enjoy it.
Carolyn, I'm always looking for new rhubarb recipes! My kids like to eat rhubarb stalks raw too. It's very tart, but we are a bunch of sour pusses here...we like to eat lemons as well
wow, I never knew the stalks could be eaten. Now I'll have to try it. Probably with sugar though-I'm not big on tartness nor sour.
I've been collecting rhubarb from the same plant for more years than I care to remember and it still produces the best rhubarb I've ever tasted. We eat it raw here too or dipped in sugar. We also make rhubarb tarts, crumble and jam. I love the stuff!!
Rhubarb is a member of the buckwheat family. It does best for me thickly mulched and watered when drouthy. A bit of afternoon shade doesn't hurt either. Too warm soil with full afternoon sun, and no mulch will encourage rhubarb to set seed spike. When it does that too routinely (set seed), it doesn't seem to live as long.
Thanks for explaining Coppice. Too much sun and warm soil isn't an issue where I live, and we tug out the spikes as soon as we see them. Maybe that's why it's a heritage plant.
My rhubarb puts out many spikes each year and I pull them as soon as I see them. It usually sends up smaller ones after and I pull them too.
