Urban Farm School

It has been yet another slow start to summer this year. The brassicas are just now showing their true colors, giant heads of broccoli coming into their own these last weeks, peas, greens, herbs, strawberries, and RHUBARB all showing their color and lending themselves to quick snacks, dinner, canning.

Rhubarb is something near and dear to my heart. A start given to me by my grandparents in-law, planted originally more than 40 years ago, is one of my favourite early season canning opportunities. It is a beautiful, strong, thick, non-fiberous rhubarb with deep red color, huge leaves, and produces from March through September.

Rhubarb is a vegetable but once again, thanks to the courts of the the 1940s, is considered a fruit in the US. The leaves are toxic but make a great mulch in garden beds. When ready to harvest, stalks will be firm ranging in size from thumb-width to writst-width, deep red in color. Do not cut rhubarb, instead tug firmly at the stalk near the ground; it will crack slightly and cleanly seperate from the main plant. If a flower has started to form or is starting to bud the stalk is spent and should not be used for cooking or canning.

With the summer solstice upon us celebrate with rhubarb and the opening of all the local farmer’s markets. Traditionally, we’re planting all the warm season vegetables but keep in mind evenings are still cool and variable daily temperatures mean that peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and other warm veg needs protection.