Rhubarb

[amyinowasso]

I was thinking rhubarb needed vernalization. I googled and found this article that might be helpful.
www.botanical-online.com/en/cultivation/rhubarb-how-to-grow
I grew it once, it survived one winter, I remember, but not the next. Winter, of course is not the problem. I get cold enough here to vernalize but it probably did not get enough water. The stems never got big enough to be worth it.reminded me of leaf celery stems, not even the size of a straw.

[chrysanthemum]

I think we get enough cold for it to vernalize probably. It’s the heat of summer that I worry about, so I’m kind of amazed that my one rhubarb lasted and lasted. I’m sure my use of shade cloth and liberal watering helped. It finally gave up the ghost last week, though. I do hope it will come back in the spring (or perhaps late winter would be more accurate given the temperatures here).

I mentioned in a different thread that I had accidentally pulled up a chunk of my rhubarb plant a few weeks back when I tugged instead of twisting off a dead leaf.  I put it in a pot in the hopes of getting it to root, though I didn’t have much hope.  I kept the pot under a table at first to protect it from the hot sun.  The leaves all withered but the stalks remained not completely dead, and it has actually starting putting out new growth.  Way to go, little plant!

[chrysanthemum]

Yesterday when I was watering the garden and my kids were playing in the warm sunshine, I spotted what my be the first sign of rhubarb.

It’s just a tiny green speck in the photo with the leaf foliage.  The next shot is a super close-up photo that my daughter took of it.





We have another spot in a different garden bed where rhubarb may come up from a plant that grew last year.  I have a final spot in a planter where I transplanted rhubarb that I had actually broken off.  I don’t know that it had enough time to get established in that area before it froze.  I’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks, though.

[heavyhitterokra]

That's very uplifting to see your little plants showing their faces through the mulch, after such a long and icy winter.

[chrysanthemum]

That one rhubarb shoot is the only one of my three plants to come back this spring.  It has been holding its own throughout the triple digit heat we’ve been having the last couple of weeks.  I’ve not harvested any as it’s still not a big enough, strong enough plant to bear it, but I’m pleased that it’s still alive this summer.