When the hubby and I moved into the house last year, there was a disastrous looking rhubarb plant out by the shed. I got help from some of you GS experts and by the end of the year it was a hundred times better than before. We didn't pick much from it, however, we wanted to make sure it had recovered. I went out last February to take a look at it. And where the hard fought battle of my rhubarb had once taken place now stood a barren patch of dry dirt. Where did it go? We'll, then I noticed all the dog tracks in that very same spot. My husband's dog had escaped his kennel one day and "played" with the dog on the other side of the fence. I told my husband he owed me a new rhubarb plant as soon as the nurseries opened up in the Spring. I went out in late March to start dreaming about my garden, and there in the once barren corner of ground,three inches high with faint red stalks, was my rhubarb. I've been taking care of it since and it's now a large, lush, green plant that has never looked healthier. Now we're coming into June. My only experience with rhubarb was picking the stalks at my grandmother's house in the summer and making sour faces with my big sister. My grandmother as since passed so I can't ask her how she got it so wonderful. My dad's greenthumb talent meant paying TruGreen to come in and spray the lawn a couple of times a year and recruiting the cute boy down the street to mow it (much to Big Sister's angst). My question is (in a very round about way, but you must forgive an English teacher) when can I expect the stalks to start turning red? They're all green with a hint of red at the base. Am I being too impatient? Should I be feeding them something to help move them along? I have worked some compost in around them last month. My husband's dieing for a strawberry rhubarb pie, but I don't want to make it with green stalks.
Miss Liberty, not all rhubarb is red. I have a very old rhubarb plant and there isn't very much red on it at all. I would more so look at the size of the stalks, rather then the color.
Thank you, Netty. I wasn't aware of that. The stalks are the right size and shape, but they only have hint of red at the bottom. I guess I'm just used to seeing the ruby red stalks of my grandmother's plant.
The red red rhubarb is mostly from divisions of real red plants. Seed-grown rhubarb is often nearly or all green but tastes the same. I like the red myself. That plant by the shed might have been seeded there years ago. Food color will make them ALL red, LOL.
Rockhound...Food coloring? I picked five stalks last night and turned them into a rhubarb cobbler. Oh my gosh! It was incredible. You're right. There was nothing wrong with the taste. Before I got married I never would have dreamed of making cobbler of any sort. So I'm rather proud of how well it turned out :-D. And the hubby was very complimentary, as well.
