March 7, 2025
After Nox woke up from her nap, Bruce asked me if there was something to do outside. My answer was yes, I wanted to build the rhubarb bed.
Bruce thought that would be fun, so he got his circular saw out. I found the square for him and brought it and the level outside.
Bruce and I placed the Oldcastle blocks in the corners of the proposed bed. Bruce made sure the bed was square. I leveled the blocks after the position was determined. While two of the corners needed to be lowered, one corner was fine and one had to be raised. For the corner that needed to be raised, I used rocks to raise the corner.
Bruce cut some old lumber we had to create the bed. We don’t expect the lumber to last and we will need to replace it at some point.
Bruce filled the wagon with dirt from Bama Dirt while I filled a bucket with cow manure compost from our neighbor.
I helped Bruce dump the wagon of dirt, smoothed the dirt out and dumped the bucket of compost on top.
We repeated this process until the bed was full, stopping with a half wagon of dirt.
I planted two rhubarb plants from Gurney’s. I’m trying out their KangaRhu(TM) rhubarb from their breeding program. They started with seeds from Australia. It is a very heat tolerant variety. It had a stem and leaf which got knocked off as I was taking the plant out of the pot. I do hope it is okay.
I am also growing a Hardy Tarty(TM) rhubarb. It also promises to handle heat as well. It had just a few leaves starting to sprout.
With the weather being cloudy for a few days, this should be good time to plant the rhubarb.
Once the rhubarb plants were in the soil, I watered them in and mulched the bed with pine straw and leaves.
I stopped to take a picture of the naturalized daffodils on the way back to the house.
I feel we got a lot accomplished today!
Blackberry Homestead 
I like the magic that happens at your house. You showed us an empty container, and just a little further down the page was a finished bed of rhubarb plants. Way to go!
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Thanks, I try to remember to take pictures as we do things, but I get busy doing and pictures don’t get taken.
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The pictures you do take are very impressive.
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Thank you!
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Heat resistant rhubarb? How interesting! Mine are hand me downs from a relative. They are typical cool weather plants. Do you mostly make jams or pies or something else with your rhubarb?
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I mostly put it into strawberry pies as Bruce loves that combo. (He works for pie!🥧) I have roasted rhubarb sprinkled with sugar and it is delicious. I also make sauces with it to go on pork and chicken. It makes a lovely sauce.
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I make an apple/cranberry/rhubarb sauce. What other kinds are there?
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I like lemon juice, lemon zest and a little nutmeg. I might used cardamom instead of nutmeg.
I also make a sauce with onions, garlic and whatever spices take my fancy. It can be a BBQ sauce or another flavor profile.
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I seem to have lost my motivation for gardening, so I will just keep reading about your efforts. I am still attempting to clean up the giant mess formerly known as my front yard.
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If you don’t have motivation, it isn’t fun. To me gardening is about fun.
Good luck with your front yard!
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Lovely! We just returned from Tarpon Springs and picked up some great perennials and annuals at the biggest ACE! We went for a salvage store but it was closed, so we enjoyed a great lunch and the dockyard area. Sometimes you go with the flow. Waiting to see what will return for the Spring in our garden.
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I love visiting salvage stores.
It is always fun to see what comes up in the spring.
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Julia, Lookin’ GOOD !!! Howard
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Thank you!
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