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Tuesday, May 12, 2020

May 12, 2020 weird weather in a weird year


Hi Gardeners

After another cold night it’s sunny and windy here with temperatures in the mid-fifties. One more below freezing night and I think we will have turned the corner. Hopefully. I know many of you east of the Rockies, way down into the south also had unusually cold weather. It got down to 24 degrees here last night and it’s supposed to be about that tonight. I took a walk around the gardens today assessing damage.

Many things are yellowing, that’s from cold and the dryness we are having. The mayapples were up quite a bit and they look a little cold damaged. My bleeding heart doesn’t look too bad. Some hosta have frost bitten leaves, some don’t, a difference in cultivar hardiness, I guess. Empress Wu seems to have suffered a bit; it had a lot of hail damage earlier.

Trilliums don’t seem too affected, nor the bloodroot. astilbe, goatsbeard, snakeroot and Jacobs ladder seem ok. Some types of lilies seem a bit frost bitten, others not. The forget me nots are actually blooming, as is the creeping phlox. Fritillaria are fading as are a lot of the daffodils. Their season wasn’t that pretty this year and too cold to enjoy.

The tulips are blooming now. Some had their heads hanging this morning but recovered later. Grape hyacinths are blooming well. The roses are leafing out and don’t seem too affected by the cold. My clematis don’t seem affected either. The poor dahlias are in pots which I brought inside the barn each night but of course they aren’t sprouting much.

Some places just a little to the south had redbud and magnolias in bloom. Mine are showing color but not blooming. The magnolia will open with just a day or two of warmth. I can see color on some lilac buds too. My lettuce sprouted but it isn’t growing much.

While some places to the south of us had snow and rain in the past few days we had none to speak off, just a trace of snow one day and some drizzle.  It’s very dry which is also slowing plant growth. This is the oddest May weather we’ve had in a long time, but then again there isn’t much that’s normal this year is there?

We are supposed to be getting rain starting Wednesday night. It’s supposed to rain for a few days with mild weather. Tomorrow after I mow the lawn, I will be going to the greenhouse for my main annual plant shopping spree. I already have some perennials I ordered and a bare root rose sitting in the house waiting to be planted. From now on it will be plant, plant, plant whenever the weather allows.

I thought this was going to be an easy season, I did get an early start cleaning up but now I am running behind in planting due to weather. Once again it will be a rush to finish getting things in the ground. Then there’s moving all those plants out of the house. Oh well. What better way to spend time than shopping for plants or planting?



The argument for mowing lawns before June

A popular meme going around on the internet is advising people not to mow their lawns until June. The meme says it’s better for pollinators, birds and other animals. And it’s pretty much nonsense.

I was advising people to cut down on the amount of lawn they mowed long before letting things go “wild” became popular. I also advised – and still do – that people not use chemicals on their lawns to suppress weeds or insects. But that does not mean that people should be without lawns, and that just not mowing at all or until you have a hayfield, is a wise decision.

The high maintenance lawn is one that consists of one grass species, usually bluegrass, with no weeds. It is meticulously cut in a pattern every few days and doused in chemicals to suppress weeds and insects and fertilized frequently to encourage growth that is then mowed. It tries to look like a plush green carpet. It’s not a good lawn in the environmental sense.

The casual lawn is one that consists of several grass and broadleaf plant species. It’s mowed so it stays about 3 inches long. Weeds like dandelions, violets and clover still bloom in this lawn, but it’s short enough to look like a lawn. No chemicals are used on the casual lawn and it’s rarely fertilized. The casual lawn is actually beneficial to many, many species of animals, including humans.

I’m looking at a casual lawn right now. I mowed it last week and I’ll mow it again this week. Its green and lush, with golden dandelions sprinkled throughout it and violets blooming in shadier corners. There’s a bit of self-heal in there, also blooming, and buzzing with bees. Later clover will bloom here and there. It’s an environmentally friendly lawn.

Lawns are derived from pastures, where animals grazed the grass and weed species down to a certain height. (There are also natural scenarios where wild animals keep an area grazed down.) These plant species adapted to grazing, they can flower at a short height and they recover quickly from “cutting”. A whole ecological system evolved around this grazing pattern, complete with insects, birds and animals that prefer this system.

When fewer people began keeping animals that needed to graze, they began to cut the grass down themselves. They recognized that cutting grass and weeds down around dwellings had many benefits. It looked better too, and it was a good background for those flower beds. And the ecological system that evolved with grazing animals was pretty much preserved.

During the 50’s it became a “thing” to turn that lawn into a carpet of green, and the practice of fertilizing, killing weeds with chemicals and intensive mowing began. That wasn’t such a good thing. But that doesn’t mean all lawns should be abandoned or turned into hayfields. Some people want to romantically call an un-mowed lawn a meadow, but that’s just another word for hayfield- look it up. A meadow/hayfield has a different ecosystem than a casual lawn. They too have a role in the greater ecosystem.

Birds and bees like casual lawns

What creatures prefer a casual lawn over a meadow? Many species of birds do, including common ones like robins, grackles, white crowned sparrows, and other birds that forage for insects and seeds on the ground. They can’t do that well in deeper grass and deeper grass hides predators. Canada geese actually prefer a casual lawn rather than a meadow. You can use that to your advantage by letting lawn turn into meadow near water if you don’t want the geese around. Some ground nesting birds, like killdeer, prefer the casual lawn situation for nesting.

A casual lawn has blooming plants in it, and mowed areas may actually have more flowers per foot than hayfields, especially in spring. The flowers are easy for bees to find and visit. Casual lawns with flower beds in them are heaven for pollinators. Butterflies are also attracted to casual lawns with blooming flowers. Casual lawns support rabbits and groundhogs as well as a meadow does, that may be a good thing or not. You’ll rarely see a squirrel in a hayfield, too dangerous for them, but you will see them on casual lawns. Skunks will readily visit casual lawns looking for grubs and other insects, but they don’t mind meadows either.

I know that whenever I mow my casual lawn, I see dozens of frogs and toads. If your mower blade is set high, you won’t kill most of them, but that is a drawback to mowing regularly. But I rarely see frogs and toads when I walk through the wilder parts of my property, where it’s a true meadow. There’s no statistics or studies to quote but my guess is frogs and toads would prefer casual lawns over meadows. It would be easier for them to move around to catch insects, which are attracted to the lower blooming flowers, than trying to catch insects visiting flowers well out of their reach.



Creatures you don’t want around homes like “meadows”

Mosquitoes and ticks love those un-mowed areas and are attracted to them. If you don’t mow until June, you will allow a sizeable population to build up. Mice and rats love hayfields/meadows because they are hidden from predators. Feral cats like un-mowed areas so they can sneak up on mice and rats- but also on ground birds and frogs. Snakes are beneficial creatures that like meadow situations. I like them, but many people don’t.  Many snake species also like casual lawns.

Racoons, coyotes and fox probably prefer meadow situations where they can sneak around. Deer don’t care, they go anywhere. Some ground nesting birds like meadows better, but those species rarely nest around human dwellings. 

Other reasons meadows aren’t great around homes

When a hayfield gets mature and dry it’s a fire hazard. One should always keep a fire break around a home where combustible material on the ground is scarce. This is especially true in wildfire prone areas. Mown lawns are not very combustible.

If you don’t mow until June, you are more likely to disturb ground nesting birds and animals and fawns when you do mow. Ask a farmer that mows hay in June how often he has killed fawns. They don’t get up and run. You are more likely to hit things you can’t see in tall grass like nests, stumps or junk and ruin your mowing equipment.

It’s difficult for home mowers to cut grass once it’s reached meadow stage. The result is a patchy looking yellowed mess with a lot of stiff stems that will make walking on them uncomfortable. It will take a lot longer for the mowed area to recover and look nice again than for areas that are regularly mowed.

Shrubs like autumn olive, brambles like multi-floral rose, invasive weeds like Japanese knotweed and trees get a head start when you wait until June to mow. Some will have a good root system by that time which will make future removal much more difficult. If you never mow and let your property go to hayfield, it will eventually turn to scrubland, with weedy trees, shrubs and tall invasive weeds.

Many grasses and weeds will flower before June and their pollen may increase the suffering of allergy prone individuals. Grass pollen is a potent allergen, one reason most people try to keep it from flowering by regular mowing.

Hayfields around homes also get you in trouble with the local government, and often your neighbors if they are close. A casual lawn may also make your neighbors unhappy if they are picky people, but you are far less likely to get a ticket or have a government agency bill you when they come mow your hayfield. And a hayfield around a home lowers its value, ask any real estate agent.

Personally, I have never seen a hayfield around a home that looks nice. It looks messy and not at all like a wildflower strewn meadow. I like meadows just fine; I have many places on my property that qualify as hayfields or meadows. They have their place, casual lawns have theirs. If you like the hayfield look, that’s fine, but make sure you live where its legal to have a house in a hayfield.

Keeping a casual lawn

Casual lawns, ones with many species of plants and that are not treated with chemicals are ecologically sound and healthy. They help protect humans from mosquitoes and ticks, rats, mice, pollen allergies and wildfires while providing habitat for many animal species. And you won’t hurt them when you mow them.

Start mowing your lawn as soon as it gets over 3 inches long. Keep it about 3 inches long. Mow regularly as long as the grass is growing vigorously. You’ll be surprised that leaving the lawn just a little longer than most people who mow leave it, will keep it vigorous and healthy looking.

Don’t worry about removing weeds or fertilizing. (If a particular weed bothers you, it’s fine to remove it by hand.) Mulch your clippings and fall leaves into the grass with a mulching mower blade. Don’t waste water on lawns. Let them dry and turn brown in drought periods.

Don’t mow too much lawn. No one should be mowing acres of lawn. Keeping 50 feet of casual lawn around a home is good amount, except in wildfire prone areas where 100 feet or more is probably better. You may want to keep a mowed area along roads, drives and paths for safety. It improves your field of vision and may make it easier to spot animals coming toward the road.

Don’t feel guilty for mowing your lawn before June and keeping it mowed. You are serving the environment much better than those who wait.

Planting tomatoes

This year due to food shortage concerns many people are planting vegetable gardens. The number one vegetable that gardener’s plant is the tomato. There’s a good reason for that. Tomatoes are always better from the garden. I rarely buy tomatoes from the grocery because they just do not taste like tomatoes from the garden. I like my tomatoes ripe and juicy. I would rather used canned tomatoes in winter than grocery store tomatoes.


I won’t say tomatoes are easy to grow- but most beginning gardeners can manage to get a crop. Tomato transplants are easy to find in the spring, and that’s how I recommend new gardeners start, with transplants from a greenhouse. Yes, you can grow them from seed, but you need to start them inside in most of the country. And that is where new gardeners have the most trouble.

You’ll need to start about 6-8 weeks before the date you want to plant them outside. You’ll need a greenhouse, coldframe or grow lights and sterilized potting medium to get healthy plants. The biggest problems with growing from seed is that new gardeners often start plants too soon and don’t have strong enough light. This results in spindly, weakened plants that take a long time to catch up to healthy greenhouse bought plants, if they ever do.

Whether you buy plants or start yours from seed, do consider growing several kinds of tomatoes, because each variety has a distinctive taste and different varieties begin ripening sooner than others. There are traditional red tomatoes but there are also yellow, orange, pink, white, green, purple and striped tomatoes. Most greenhouses now carry a good selection of tomato varieties.

When selecting plants look for disease resistance.  After the tomato variety name there are usually several letters. The more letters the better, as they indicate the plant has resistance to diseases represented by those letters. Tomatoes have a lot of problems with various diseases and varieties with good disease resistance are more likely to give you a good crop. These aren’t genetically modified; they are produced by selective breeding. And hybrid plants can be grown organically, if that’s important to you.

Everybody wants to grow heritage tomatoes, and there are some good ones. But what often isn’t told about heritage varieties is they are often better for certain areas of the country than others, they often don’t have good disease resistance, and many aren’t that productive.  If your goal is to provide a lot of good, tasty tomatoes for eating or canning don’t make heritage varieties your main crop. Buy or plant seeds of one or two heritage varieties just for the taste but use modern hybrids for your main crop.

Don’t let people tell you all modern hybrids don’t taste as good as heritage varieties either. There are absolutely delicious modern hybrid tomato varieties. There are so many different hybrids, each with their own taste, just like heritage varieties. You may want to try several and keep notes on which you like.  Some varieties are better for fresh eating, some are better for canning. Read any good garden catalog to get an idea of what tomato varieties to try.

If you can, choose some early and some later ripening varieties of tomatoes so that you will have a constant supply. Read the plant label to see how many days the tomato variety takes to maturity, which means the number of days from when you set the plants into the ground, or a large container, to when the tomatoes produce ripe fruit. Early tomatoes have fruit that is generally smaller than later ripening varieties, but the flavor is usually great.

The number of plants to buy or grow depends on the space you have in which to grow them, you’ll need about 3 square feet per plant (once transplanted to the garden). If space isn’t a problem, consider whether you want fresh tomatoes for eating and/or if you want tomatoes for canning. A family of four will probably get all the fresh tomatoes they want from 3-4 plants. If you want to can or freeze tomatoes or make sauces and salsa you’ll want at least a dozen plants.

Choosing healthy plants

Tomato plants are available in a variety of sizes and prices. Cell packs contain 4-6 small tomato plants, usually all of one variety. They are generally the least expensive way to buy tomatoes. Healthy tomato plants in cell packs will quickly catch up to larger potted plants in growth. The disadvantage of cell packs is the plants are generally all the same variety and if you want several varieties, you’ll end up with a lot of plants. 

When you are choosing healthy tomato plants in cell packs look for stocky, dark green plants without flowers or fruits. Lanky, yellowish plants with flowers or fruit are stressed and won’t do well in the garden. Don’t choose them.

Tomatoes that are potted individually in larger pots can be taller and even support flowers and fruit, depending on the size of the pot, without being stressed. The larger the pot, the more advanced the plant can be, a plant with small green tomatoes should be in a pot at least 6 inches across, larger pots are better. These plants are more expensive but it’s often fun to get at least one tomato plant that already has flowers or fruit so that you get early ripe fruit. Choosing individual tomato plants in pots allows the person who doesn’t have a lot of garden space to have several varieties of tomatoes. 

Potted tomato plants that are flowering or that have fruit take a little extra care when they are planted. Look for potted plants that are compact and dark green.  A few yellow leaves on the bottom of the plant are normal but avoid plants that have a lot of yellowed leaves or spotted and curled leaves.  Look for plants without signs of insect damage or insects on the leaves.

When to plant

Tomatoes are tropical plants and need warm soil and frost-free conditions to grow. The best time to plant tomatoes is when the lilac plants in your area are in full bloom or the leaves on the oak trees are the size of your thumb. This generally means frost is over for your area but it’s only an estimate. Even then keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to cover the plants if the weather forecast calls for a frost or freeze.

Don’t be in a rush to get your tomatoes into the ground. If the weather and soil are cool the plants will just sit there, barely surviving. Tomatoes planted after the weather is warm and settled will take off quickly and be strong and productive. They often catch up to and surpass plants that sat through cold periods or suffered frost damage.

Choosing a good location for planting

Tomatoes need at least 6 hours of sunlight to produce good fruit, 8-12 is better. They thrive in a variety of soils but loose, fertile soil where tomatoes haven’t been planted in at least a year is best. If your soil is very sandy or is heavy clay, you can work in a generous amount of compost before planting. Do not amend each hole, rather work in the organic matter before making holes.

You’ll probably want to keep the tomatoes out of a high traffic area and while deer and rabbits don’t generally touch the plants many animals enjoy the ripe fruit, so you may want a fence around them. Chickens love ripe tomatoes by the way.

Pots

Some people prefer to plant in pots. Pots for a standard tomato plant should be at least 5 gallons, preferably more. That’s going to be about 12 inches across, and they should be about that in depth or deeper. The patio type tomatoes can be in slightly smaller pots. The new grow bags can be used to grow tomatoes.

Don’t put tomatoes in hanging baskets. By midsummer the conditions in baskets are not kind to the plants and many will die or quit fruiting. It’s an enormous job to keep a mature plant watered in a basket and to make it work you really need a drip irrigation system. Tomatoes in hanging baskets are just a novelty thing, they aren’t very productive and only cherry type tomatoes can survive in them.

All pots MUST drain very freely. Tomatoes do not survive wet roots. Putting rocks or other things in the bottom of a pot without drainage will not work. Do not sit the pots directly on the ground, deck or pavement. Raise them a little with blocks of wood under the corners so they drain freely. Plants may scorch if the pots are sitting on pavement or metal decks. Pots are better on the ground or wood surfaces.

It’s better to use a good potting medium rather than garden soil in pots. Tomatoes in pots will need to be watered much more frequently than those planted in the ground, sometimes as often as once a day in hot weather. They will also need some kind of support, just like those in the garden.

The actual planting

Don’t make tomato planting harder than it needs to be. Tomatoes don’t need elaborately prepared holes. Simply dig a hole a little deeper than the root ball of the tomato plant in loose warm soil. Unlike most plants tomatoes have the ability to grow roots from little “bumps” along their stems and planting them slightly deeper than they were in the nursery helps them form a good, extensive root system.

Remove any leaves below the soil line before you fill in the hole around the plant. If you have tall, lanky tomatoes, maybe bargain ones left at the end of the season, you can remove all but one or two sets of leaves and bury the stem deeply. Or you can even dig a trench and lay most of the tomato stem horizontally in it, with just the top leaves above ground.

You should not put anything in the hole you dug for the plant. If you want to use some tomato fertilizer or any good garden fertilizer to get the plants off to a good start, mix the recommended amount (on the label) with soil you took from the hole and then refill the hole. Never use high nitrogen fertilizers like blood meal on plants. You’ll get more leaves than fruit. Nitrogen is represented by the first number on a fertilizer bag. I recommend fertilizers specially formulated for tomatoes as your first choice.

Let’s talk about one of the biggest garden myths here- Epsom salt.  Tomatoes do not need Epsom salts. They aren’t fertilizer, won’t keep away insects or disease or make tomatoes taste better. They don’t stop blossom end rot. Do not add Epsom salts at planting or any other time.  Epsom salts may even contribute to poor growth and fruiting failure as they can bind with other soil elements and prevent them from being used by plants. Mineral imbalances may cause more foliage than fruit to develop. The salts can burn plant roots too. Don’t use it, no matter what you hear on various social media sites.

You should also avoid the use of eggshells, fish meal, coffee grounds and manure in holes for tomatoes. Eggshells do not break down quickly enough to give tomatoes calcium. Anything other than a good fertilizer or maybe some well-aged compost used when planting tomatoes is useless and possibly harmful, despite what the fads and folklore that pop up online lead you to believe.  Keep it simple.

Water

After planting the tomato, water it immediately. Unless the ground is already saturated give it a good soaking. Be careful not to wash light soil off the roots. This is one of the most important things to do when planting.

If your weather is hot, dry and windy check each day after planting for the first week to see if the plant is wilting. Water it if it’s wilting after checking to see if the soil feels dry. Some plants will wilt despite the soil being moist and watering won’t help. This may mean they weren’t hardened off- see below- or that they need shading. After a week or so plants won’t need daily checks or watering (unless they are in pots).

Hardening off and shading plants

Plants you grew inside may die if you take them out and plant them directly in the garden. They need time to adjust to outside UV light and wind. Bring them out for a few hours each day in a lightly shaded, sheltered spot then move them back inside. Gradually lengthen the time outside and strength of light over about a week before planting. Day temperatures should be above 45 degrees. Bring them in at night if temps will fall below 40 degrees.

Even greenhouse grown plants may need a little help adjusting to outside conditions. The best day to plant tomatoes is a cloudy, misty one with little wind. If you can plan to plant during a stretch of several days of wet but warm cloudy weather, you hit the jackpot. If the weather is hot, sunny and windy when you need to plant, cover the plant with something such as a sheet of newspaper or some light fabric to lightly shade it. Some people use beach umbrellas. This keeps plants from wilting as they grow new roots. Remove the shade after 2-3 days. 

Spacing, staking and mulching

Space your tomato plants at least 3 feet apart. That looks like a lot when they are small but when they are larger the plants need good air flow around them to help prevent disease. Don’t plant tomatoes against a building or solid fence. The reflected heat and poor airflow will cause many problems.

Place your tomato cages, stakes or other supports when you plant the tomato. Use sturdy supports, a fruit loaded mature tomato plant is very heavy and if your support falls over the stem could break. Those cheap round metal tomato cages sold in stores rarely do a good job unless you also run a long stake through the cage deep into the ground. Even heavy-duty wire cages are best anchored with a stake. You can tie tomatoes to heavy duty stakes or tie them to fence panels attached to strong stakes.

All tomatoes should be kept off the ground to avoid problems with fungal disease. My grandfather and many other older gardeners used to let plants sprawl on bare ground. Fungal diseases are more prevalent now and gardeners generally have less space. If you do let plants sprawl it should be on top of a deep mulch. Mulch is also advised even if you stake plants.

If you are going to use plastic mulch that should be placed on the ground before you dig the holes. You cut holes in it where the tomatoes are placed. Commercial fields use plastic mulch, generally with drip irrigation under it.  For home gardeners who can’t afford drip irrigation systems I would advise against plastic mulch. It’s very hard to keep the soil at the right moisture level.

If you are going to use a mulch such as straw or bark chips wait a week or so after planting to put it down and make sure the soil is moist first. The soil should also be warm first, as tomatoes prefer warm soil and mulch will prevent it from warming in spring. 

Mulch is good to suppress weeds but don’t make it more than 3” deep as it will prevent water from reaching the plant roots. Experts no longer recommend putting things like newspaper or cardboard down before you mulch. These things impede air flow to plant roots, and this disturbs soil microorganisms’ plants need.

If you like eating tomatoes, you’ll enjoy them even more if you grow them yourself. Pick one warm from the sun, bite into it and let the juice run down your chin. Think bacon and tomato sandwiches with luscious, flavorful tomatoes. Picture jars of cheerful red canned tomatoes lining your cupboard selves. Get out there and plant some tomatoes.

Cooking and preserving rhubarb  

Rhubarb is a great sweet-tart spring treat.  It’s available in farm markets beginning in May and of course, you can grow your own rhubarb. If harvesting your own rhubarb cut it with a sharp knife near the stem base and don’t remove more than 1/3 of the stalks each season.  Stop harvesting when plants flower, usually mid-June in the northeast.


Since many places had freezing weather after rhubarb began to grow this year many of you are wondering if it’s safe to eat. If the stalks appear green/red and crisp they are safe to consume. If the stalks look limp and blackened or feel mushy don’t eat them. Cut those stalks off and the plant will grow new ones, which will be safe to eat.

Rhubarb stalks are the only safe part of the plant to eat; the plants contain high amounts of oxalic acid. The stem color of rhubarb varies from bright cherry red to greenish red, depending on variety. Many people just like to munch on a crispy tart stalk and that’s fine, just don’t eat too much or you will have some unhappy intestines, if you know what I mean. This article will give you some ideas on how to cook and preserve the rhubarb harvest.

Some people leave the ‘skin” on rhubarb stalks when cooking rhubarb, others prefer to carefully skin the stalks. You can usually remove the “skin” with your fingers, it strips right off. The peel often pulls away in attractive curls that can be used for garnishes. Tender young stalks won’t need peeling. Always wash rhubarb before proceeding with a recipe.

Rhubarb pairs beautifully with strawberries and pineapple. You substitute rhubarb pieces in any zucchini bread or cake recipe. That’s a good reason to freeze some rhubarb chunks, in case the zucchini crop fails.

Cooked Rhubarb Sauce
      
Rhubarb stalks, washed
sugar
       
Cut the rhubarb stalks into ½ inch slices.  Measure your pieces in a measuring cup. Put them in a saucepan.  Add ½ cup of sugar for every 2 cups of rhubarb pieces. Toss the mixture with a spoon. You can adjust the sweetness to suit you. Let the rhubarb and sugar sit until you notice some fluid being drawn out of the rhubarb, probably 30 minutes. Then heat the rhubarb and sugar until gently boiling. Cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb pieces soften, about 5 minutes.

Use the sauce on pound cake slices or over vanilla ice cream.

Cooking rhubarb for use in pies and cakes

Cut the rhubarb in ½ inch slices. Fill a metal strainer or colander with pieces. Get a large pot of water boiling. Immerse strainer or colander with rhubarb pieces in it for 2-3 minutes. Drain and use in recipe.

Freezing rhubarb

Blanch rhubarb in boiling water as above, but only immerse for 1 minute.  Dip colander into a large pot of cold water immediately. Let drain. Pack into freezer safe containers and freeze.

Canning rhubarb

Follow the directions above for rhubarb sauce. It takes about 2 cups of rhubarb pieces for each pint jar. As soon as rhubarb is removed from the stove, pour it into clean pint jars to ½ inch from the rims.  Remove bubbles by gently running a knife through filled jars. Clean the rims and apply lids.  Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes.
 
Rhubarb and pineapple cake recipe

This cake is fairly easy to prepare and tastes delicious. You could frost it, but it’s great with a scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, especially while warm.  It’s not as sweet as some cakes, but soft, moist and flavorful. This makes a good potluck dessert, something different. Rhubarb and pineapple cake also freezes well.

Ingredients
2 cups of peeled, sliced rhubarb
3/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 yellow cake mix
1- 20 oz. can of unsweetened crushed pineapple, don’t drain.
3 eggs

Grease a 13x9 inch cake pan.  Preheat oven to 350. 

In a microwave safe bowl combine rhubarb and sugar. Cover bowl and microwave on high for about 3 minutes. The rhubarb should look like the consistency of the crushed pineapple. 

Add the butter to the rhubarb bowl and let it melt. In the meantime, combine the cake mix, 3 eggs and can of pineapple in a big bowl.

Pour cake mix into the rhubarb-butter mixture.

Beat with the electric beaters until the cake mix and other ingredients are well combined, about 2 minutes. Pour into greased pan and bake for about 35 minutes- until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve.



"When purple finches sing and soar . . .
With vernal gladness running o'er—
When joys like these salute the sense . . .
Then waiting long hath recompense,
And all the world is glad with May."


John Burroughs


Kim Willis
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