Every year I start to get excited when those first little nubs start to appear. The rhubarb is about to come up. Or is actually starting to come up. It’s kind of testing things out, trying to see if it’s safe. Plants have to be a bit cautious. It’s not like they can crawl back under the ground if it suddenly starts to snow.
So far, the coast seems clear. The little nubs have started to break the surface. And I have plans for them. Well, at least some of them.
In some ways, rhubarb is like zucchini. There is no possible way to grow the exact right amount. There is always not enough, or way too much. Usually, it’s the way too much option.
When we bought our house many years ago, the rhubarb was already there. It was hiding in various corners of the back yard, but we tracked it down as we went and put it all in a couple of dedicated rhubarb areas. All told, we have seven or eight clumps of rhubarb. That is far too much rhubarb.
We try. We have eaten rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb cobbler, stewed rhubarb, rhubarb cake. There are a lot of ways to cook rhubarb. Which is good. Because there is a lot of rhubarb out there. I even have friends that will show up and harvest an armload or two. We still have too much rhubarb.
Eventually, it will bolt and probably produce seeds that will try to create even more rhubarb. But that’s okay. I like rhubarb. A sign of spring that is also edible. What’s not to like?
