Growing Rhubarb • Insteading - 2022世界杯四强亚盘赔率

Rhubarb pie does eternal battle with apple in my heart — each of them vying to reign as favorite. But I have to admit, there’s something about the tart-sweet of rhubarb that demands attention, and piques longing when it’s not there. I can’t be alone in this appreciation for rhubarb dessert. It wasn’t called “pie plant” for nothing, after all.

Maybe rhubarb will win the pie war because of the nostalgia it stirs in me. I grew up spending Sunday evenings listening to the News from Lake Wobegon and powder milk biscuit commercials of “A Prairie Home Companion.”As a child, I preferred the show’s country and folk music to the boy bands I was supposed to like as a child of the 90s.

Emma Forsberg / Flickr (Creative Commons)

This, of course, resulted in me being the weird girl who could be found shrieking “Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie” while on the swings at school. I suppose it’s no wonder I eventually ended up becoming a millennial homesteader that enjoys growing rhubarb.

So now that you’ve got that song stuck in your head, let me tell you — if you haven’t had much experience with growing rhubarb, you have got to try this delicious perennial. Both easy to grow and willing to stick around for decades, rhubarb certainly deserves being lauded in song!

大黄根茎还是种子?

Rhubarb is often sold as a big, fleshy rhizome with a growing bud, but you can also grow it from seeds if you prefer. Keep in mind that growing rhubarb from seed is and adventure of not knowing what you’ll end up with in the end (which may or may not be a deal-breaker for you). If it’s a specific cultivar or color you seek, the rhizome may be the best route.

Planting Rhubarb

Rhubarb can tolerate lots of soil types but does best in fertile, well-draining soils. If it’s put in an area with unamended clay soil, it runs the risk of rotting, so if you have a clay pit of a backyard, raised beds may be the best solution for your rhubarb location. And if you’re limited on space, you can try growing rhubarb in a pot — a really, really deep pot.

Rhubarb’s extensive underground portions requirea pot that is as deep as you can afford— at least 24 inches deep and just as wide. Fill it with richly amended soil, feed with compost tea, and enjoy the company of its beautiful foliage. Also, it is essential to make sure good drainage holes are in place.

Conditions Needed For Growing Rhubarb

理想情况下，大黄喜欢温度低于40华氏度的冬季和平均75华氏度的夏季。在美国，大黄在华盛顿州、俄勒冈州和密歇根州被商业化种植，这让你知道哪里生长得最好。

South of Illinois, you may have trouble getting rhubarb to thrive as it should. On my homestead in the Ozarks, for example, the often triple-digits of summer are too much for a truly healthy crop of rhubarb though I do try (somewhat futilely).

Some southern growers experiment with growing rhubarb as a winter annual, getting seeds in the ground in the late summer and harvesting what they can in the spring before the climate takes its toll. Whatever you decide to do, the hope of rhubarb is worth the effort!

rhubarb garden — Emily-Jane Hills-Orford / Insteading

Rhubarb does best and produces the sturdiest stems in full sun. However, if you’re a southern grower who’s pushing the limits, locate your rhubarb somewhere it will have shade during the worst of the summer’s noonday heat. Though rhubarb will probably go dormant after the thermometer hits 80 degrees, it will give you a chance to get some tastiness in the spring.

健康、管理良好的大黄植物可以存活20年以上，所以当你找到完美的地点时，确保你可以接受一个巨大、美丽的植物长期迁入。它们确实会长大。确保每一株植物与其相邻植物之间至少有4英尺的距离，以避免拥挤。

Once you have the location set and the rhubarb in the ground, the next thing you’ll need to practice is patience. The first year your fledgling rhubarb pushes its attractive, tropical-looking leaves out of the ground, leave it alone. Just weed, water, and mulch it to control weeds and keep the soil evenly moist. Don’t worry — your pies are coming, just not yet. More on that soon.

As your rhubarb grows through the years, you’ll start to notice growth cycles: sturdy stalks in the cool spring, thinner stalks as the weather heats up, and a return to lush, thick growth in the fall. If you notice the stalks of your rhubarb getting skinny early in the year, it is your cue the plant is getting crowded andit’s time to divide the underground bulb.

Harvesting Rhubarb

The desired part of the rhubarb is its celery-like stalks called petioles (if you want to know the technical term). The large leaves they loft high are mildly toxic with high amounts of oxalic acid, so as tempting as they may seem, don’t eat rhubarb greens!

Once your rhubarb has reached its third year of letting it get established, you can finally harvest with abandon. The ideal time to cut or pull stalks is when they have reached the width of a finger. You can either choose to harvest it stalk-by-stalk as they reach a good size, or remove the entire clump for a huge harvest.

The first flush of edible goodness will emerge in the spring, giving you zesty, fruity flavors well before most other fruit has ripened. Then, once the temperatures cool for the fall, you may be able to harvest a second flush of rhubarb before winter shuts everything down. Seed stalks, however attractive their flowers are, will slow down petiole production, so remove those as they emerge to extend the growing season.

What’s The Deal With Forcing?

如果等待大黄在春天出现让你失去耐心，那就有可能提前收获。“强迫”这个词用来描述让植物不受季节节奏的影响而生长的行为。

There are detailed directions onhow to wrench an early harvest of rhubarb here，但简短的版本如下。在让成熟的树冠经受一点冬天的严寒之后，把它挖出来，重新种植在一个容器中，这个容器可以移动到室内稍微暖和一点的地方(比如车库)，然后把它完全盖上。

If you keep it moist, the plant will come out of dormancy and produce a small crop of rhubarb well before the garden-bound plants reach out for the first taste of spring. Since they haven’t been exposed to the sun, bear in mind that forced rhubarb will take on entirely different colors. In some cases, this will make for more visually attractive stalks. Varieties like Victoria for example, are a muddled brown when grown outdoors but a jewel-like red when forced.

Bear in mind that this practice really puts a strain on the plant itself. If you force growth out of a single plant two years in a row, you may kill it. Some people simply discard the forced rhizomes, but if you give them a year or two to recover, they’ll thank you for your kindness and produce normally again.

Rhubarb Pests And Problems

大黄受欢迎的原因之一是它很容易养大。你的大黄植物真的不应该有很多害虫问题——如果有的话。

Rhubarb’s biggest threats are environmental. As I mentioned earlier, the first is high temperatures. The second and probably most widespread threat while growing rhubarb isPhytophthoracrown rot. This problem is incurable and emerges in plants growing in poorly drained soils.

You’ll know you made a growing location error if your rhubarb stalks are rotting at their base. Remove the plants, compost them, and start over in a better spot.

第三个可能影响大黄生长的环境问题是干旱。如果你让你的植物过于干燥，它可能会触发它们进入休眠状态，直到条件对它们再次生长有利。

Rhubarb Background

大黄已经出现一段时间了。Chinese writings about rhubarb root use as a medicine extend all the way back to 2700 B.C. The current varieties ofRheum rhabarbarumare the result of much interbreeding between wild and domesticated strains, making its genetic history a little murky.

但我们知道的是，我们现在种植和享用的现代烹饪用大黄，源自西伯利亚和中国北部甘肃省驯化的植物。看看它的地理诞生地，你很快就会发现大黄是一种暴露在寒冷环境下生长得最好的植物。

The merits of its weather hardy nature and easy care became truly valued in America around the end of the Civil War as a mainstay of homestead gardens and favorite desserts. It is even said that if you stumble across an abandoned old homestead, you’ll undoubtedly discovera gnarled lilac, an overgrown apple tree, and a healthy clump of rhubarb.

Today, there are nearly 100 cultivars of this tart-sweet vegetable-used-as-fruit, ranging incolors from green to brilliant, bright red.

Do you have experience with growing rhubarb? For all you cold-weather growers in the northern U.S. and Canada: What are your best tips for plentiful petioles? And for you daring southern growers: Have you made growing rhubarb work despite the summer’s heat? Let me know in the comments below!