Click below to lsiten to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Baseball, hot dogs and rhubarb pie?
Yah, you betcha!
Happy Independence Day to the greatest country there is! Yes, I said it. Despite our differences, we are blessed to live here.
On this day, we celebrate with American stuff… baseball! hot dogs on the grill! Pie!!! Lots of pie!
Apple pie or strawberry pie or blueberry pie. Wait, that should be rhubarb pie at this time of year. Or rhubarb crisp! That’s my personal favorite. Click on my Recipes link for a tasty treat.
As a kid, I thought rhubarb was totally uncool and only for “old” people. Since I know love it… a tasty treat with strawberry AND rhubarb too… it’s now officially cool. 
Rhubarb really isn’t that tough to grow but if you’re just planting it, then there are a couple of things to know.
It’s best planted in a sunny location, it will prolong their life since it’s a perennial. Allow about 1 square yard of growing area per plant. The leaves can get enormous and, in fact, I used one to create a cement cast that was really cool looking.
Buy rhubarb crowns from your local nursery, loosen the soil to a depth of about 8 inches and mix in organic matter.
Cover the crowns with 1 to 2 inches of soil. Any more than that will delay growth. Press the soil firmly and water well. After you start seeing growth you can mulch the area.
Remove any flower stalks as they’ll take up too much energy. Allow your rhubarb one planting season before cutting. The second year, give them a light cutting and then enjoy your rhubarb for years! Rhubarb was used as a medicine for centuries but not eaten since it’s leaves are poisonous.
And now for the fireworks……….
