The Pie Plant: Rhubarb

Rhubarb is one of the first crops to enjoy in early spring.  It's one of my favorite.  There are so many delicious things to make with rhubarb.  This week will be rhubarb recipe week.  Each day I will post a delicious recipe to try with rhubarb.  From crisps to cobblers, jam, sauce, and pies you can't go wrong with this perennial. It's very easy to care for, has few diseases, and makes a great landscape plant.

Rhubarb Crisp 

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam 

Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb Lemonade

Purchase rhizomes of rhubarb in early spring and plant in a fertile soil.  Make the planting hole bigger than what you need and mix in compost, peat moss, and a complete dry organic fertilizer or mix your own:  1 part blood meal, 2 parts bone meal and azomite or greensand.  The rhizomes are covered with 2 inches of soil.  Rhubarb is a heavy feeder so in early spring fertilize with fish emulsion when established.  In late spring side dress with a handful of dry organic fertilizer and spread a layer of compost in watering well.  Rhubarb can tolerate shade (I recommend planting in part shade in New Harmony) and needs even moisture.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler 

(My favorite rhubarb recipe)

 Its one of the first plants to wake up in early spring.  During cool, spring weather stalks develop red color.  In summer growth slows, stalks turn green, and it sends up flower stalks which you remove.  In fall vegetation continues to grow, stalks turn red, and it will die back at 26F.  Do not eat the leaves they are poisonous.

 Divide crowns every 5 years or when stalks become thin.  Harvest 1/3 of petioles (stalks) the first year.  Up to ½ when established.  Twist outside stalks to harvest.  Harvest for 6-8 weeks in spring or fall but not both.  Enjoy this delicious perennial!

Red stalks of rhubarb.

Preparing your Soil in Raised Beds

Moon and Stars heirloom watermelon.

Preparing your garden beds

Put your money and time into building your soil.  That is the best garden investment you can make.  It will result in greater yields and fewer problems with pests and disease. Organic gardening is based on plant and soil biology. That’s why it works.

A Living Soil

Soil texture deals with the size of particles:  silts, clays, or sand.  Loam is a balance of these particle with 40% sand, 40% silts, and 20% clay which allows for good drainage and air and pore space for roots. 

The other very important element of soil is organic matter.  Soil texture does not determine fertility. That's good news because unless you have predominantly clay soil you can build fertility and a healthy soil biology and structure with the addition of organic matter.

For the most you can use your native soil and amend it with organic matter.  I would NOT, however, use a soil that is predominantly clay.

If your existing soil is clay, do not use.  You will have nothing but problems.  Bulk compost and soil can be purchased or perhaps a neighbor has native soil you can use. Bulk compost can be too high in salts. Ask to see a soil test on the bulk compost you are purchasing.

Caroline raspberries best to grow raspberries in a raised bed.

Preparing a New Raised Bed


If you are starting a new garden bed, rototil the soil and remove rocks and weeds. Build your bed frame and place over the soil.  I do not recommend putting screens on your raised beds. If you have gophers, screens make it impossible to trap the gophers and water will be  funneled down their tunnels.


Fill with a  sandy loam soil and 2"-3" of compost.  Broadcast evenly a dry organic fertilizer.  Using a shovel and incorporate everything into the soil. Water to get the soil to settle.  Remember do not walk on your beds.  

Jubilee sweet corn great for eating fresh, freezing, and canning.

Preparing an Existing Garden Bed

To prepare an existing bed, add 2 inches of compost and a dry organic fertilizer.  You do not need to work this into the soil if you have an established bed.  If you are new to organic gardening, then you will have to work the compost into the soil. Use a shovel to do this. 

Muskmelon or cantaloupe

Compost:  Poster Child of Organic Gardening

Buying compost can be confusing.  I do not use compost with time released chemical fertilizers or a lot of amendments.  

Compost is decomposed animal and plant material. Aged manures can also be used as compost.   

My favorite compost is Nutri-mulch (turkey manure and bedding).  Any compost will do.  Avoid those with time released chemical fertilizers.  That will only ensure you continually kill beneficial microbes in your soil.

In organic gardening, you feed the microbes and the microbes provide the nutrients for the plants.  Plants expend a lot of energy attracting specific bacteria and fungi to their root zones.  They enter into a beneficial relationship, each providing the other with what it needs.  The presence of beneficial microbes prevents the buildup of pathogenic microbes.  Using chemical fertilizers, destroys this relationship, kills microbes, and does not build your soil structure.

Adding compost provides organic matter for microbes , retains moisture, hold nutrients in the soil, builds soil structure, and makes plants healthy and happy.  So invest in compost!  It gets the job done.

My favorite compost and mulch.

Dry Organic Fertilizer:

You can purchase a balanced organic fertilizer which means it has Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). With organic fertilizers you do not need a different one for each plant variety. Just look for one that is for vegetables.  All organic fertilizers have some trace minerals because they are organic compounds.  For example blood meal will have iron, bone meal will have calcium etc.

I usually mix my own dry fertilizers.  You can use any meal or blood meal for nitrogen and bone meal for phosphorus.  I put greensand for potassium and trace mineral.  Azomite is another good product for minerals.  Azomite is a rock dust that is mined exclusively in Utah.  It is the result of a volcanic eruption into a seabed and contains the highest amount of minerals of the rock dusts. It will improve water retention in your soil also.

I put the dry organic fertilizer mix in a 5 gallon bucket and use it on the garden, berries, landscape and fruit trees. Everything also gets a layer or homemade or store bought compost.  I also add dry organic fertilizer to planting holes along with extra compost of heavy feeders. Remember organic fertilizers feed microbes not plants. The microbes then provide nutrients for the plants.

Birdhouse gourds a very aggressive vine fun to grow for kids.

Liquid Organic Fertilizers

Liquid fertilizers are also important especially in early spring when microbe activity is slow.  Liquid fertilizers are mixed with water in a water can and applied to soil around the plant or they can be put in a hand sprayer and used as a foliar spray on the leaves.   

Fish emulsion and liquid kelp are great options.  I feed seedlings when they have 4-6 leaves, again when buds form and flowers set,  and anytime a plant is stressed. 

Azomite can also be mixed with water.  Mix 2.5 tablespoons of azomite per gallon of water for lawns, gardens, trees and shrubs. Greensand is not water soluble and must be mixed incorporated into the soil.

Complete organic fertilizer.

Look what you can grow organically, healthy beautiful grand kids!

This picture is of my grandson "helping" his dad prepare a raspberry bed.  Having a chemical free yard means they can safely help, eat, and play in your yard and garden.

Favorite Tools: Seed Starting Trays

 

This is part of a series I plan on doing about garden equipment and tools.  Through the years I've learned that investing in good tools and equipment pays off.  So let's start with seed trays.

f you are a serious gardener and start most of your own transplants, then it worthwhile to invest in good seed starting trays.  While you can start seeds in anything that drains, I have found that on a large scale, good seed trays are worth the investment and produce healthier seedlings.

Seedling trays are my favorite. They were developed for large scale agricultural use yet I have only been able to find them from one source which is linked below. 

These trays are made of molded polystyrene and are quite lightweight, which is helpful when lugging the trays around the garden.     

They come in 4 sizes:  1" 200 cells, 1 1/2" 128 cells,  2" 72 cells, and 3" 32 cells.  I like the 2" or 3" trays because I don't want to have to repot before transplanting.

Automatic Root Pruning

The cells are pyramidal in shape and taper down to a 1⁄4-inch hole at the bottom.  Because of this,  the seedling roots are guided downward. When the taproot encounters the air outside the bottom hole, it is automatically root-pruned, prompting the development of feeder roots that grow downward. This makes for seedlings with a healthy root system.  With a square-bottom container, the shape forces the roots to circle around themselves which is a setback to the transplants. (Fine Gardening)

Easy Removal From the Trays

Seedlings are easy to remove from these trays.  I use a butter knife or sturdy plant label.  Always water the day before you plan on transplanting so your plants are turgid.

Roots Already Directed Downward

When transplanting seedlings you want the roots to grow downward.  If they root stay in the top couples inches they dry out and never develop a strong healthy root system. Transplants from my Speedling trays always seem to establish healthy  deep root systems.  

Easy Clean Up

They trays are very durable.  At the end of the season, I wash the trays with soapy water and use a toothbrush to remove stubborn dirt.  I let them dry in the sun and they are ready for the next season.

As I said they are a great investment if you do a lot of seed starting. 

 

Sources for Speedling Trays

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
PO Box 2209
Grass Valley, CA 95945
888/784-1722
www.groworganic.com