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."
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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And So On….
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