Original post from Down on the Allotment
Just a week ago I found a discarded black plastic dustbin in a skip. I had been looking for something to completely exclude all light from my rhubarb crowns.
This patch of 'Timperley Early' is nearly 4 years old, so the plant is strong enough to withstand forcing. Just by excluding all light during the first few months of growing produces much sweeter and more tender sticks of rhubarb at the beginning of the season.
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Original post from My Tiny Plot.
I mean, there aren’t many vegetables that look like brain when they are just emerging in early Spring, but yes Rhubarb is one of them.
See more wierd rhubarb pictures HERE.
Original post from Down on the Allotment
The days are surely getting longer now. The first shoots of my rhubarb have started to show their heads above ground. My main rhubarb patch is now 3 years old and is growing bigger and stronger day by day. I have mulched my main rhubarb patch with 4 or 5 inches of well matured horse manure compost. This little chap below is a second patch that I am trying to get rid of at the moment. I think I will try forcing this crown of rhubarb. You can only really force rhubarb crowns after they are well established because it puts quite a strain on the plant. 
The trick is to exclude all light from the growing sticks so that they are sweeter and more tender. I have a large flowerpot I think I will use, unless I can find an unwanted black dustbin!
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Original post from Down on the Allotment, May 19, 2008
The only flowers you will see this week in my garden are those which precede tasty vegetables! I've just finished watching the opening day of the RHS Chelsea flower show on TV.. not a veggie in sight.. shame on them. Regard my crimson flowered broad beans, flowering their little hearts out at the moment. Small beanlets are starting to appear at the base of each plant. Looks like it will be a bumper year for strawberries too. This is the third year I have found a permanent home for about a dozen plants. I just peg down the runners each year and try to remember which plants are past their best and whip them out. This week I will give them a feed and lay down some straw for the berries to rest on.. er.. that's why they call them straw-berries!
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Original post from Life in Sugar Hollow, May 16, 2008
Sugar snap peas and lettuce.
After a Sugar Hollow Mama Gathering on Tuesday, my gardening mama friends encouraged me to get out there . . . and bring the baby swing. Eureka! Yes! Willa donned her little sun hat and snoozed in the fresh air, while I weeded and prepped the beds for more plantings. Our lettuce patch is thriving - which has me flummoxed - as bunnies regularly tromp along the garden paths during the evenings (even under the watchful eye of Mr. Otis). Radishes are coming in. Sugar snap peas are climbing and the herb bed looks healthy.
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Original post from Veggie Gardening Tips, May 04, 2008
A recent article discussed a problem with lettuce and other vegetable plants bolting and going to seed prematurely, but flowering is just a part of the natural cycle of things out in the veggie patch. A look around the back yard revealed quite a few edible plants that are bolting and flowering, but for the most part it’s not a problem if it occurs at the proper time and shouldn’t be taken as a sigh of something gone wrong. Here’s just a sampling of all the vegetable seed factories currently in production out in the garden: Kale - This one is at the top of my list and I frequently refer to it as mock broccoli.
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Original post from Down on the Allotment, May 04, 2008
My rhubarb this year has been fantastic! I planted some new crowns last January and didn't pick any at all last Summer. I just mulched and watered it and gave it extra special treatment to build up the crowns. I enjoy it cooked in the microwave with some sugar, then eaten cold with a spoonful of raspberries.
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Original post from Down on the Allotment, March 21, 2008
Easter has come early this year! The date of Easter is supposed to be something like the first Sunday after the full moon after the Spring equinox.. or something like that.... Gardening tradition has it that you must plant your new potatoes on Good Friday. So I did.
Three rows of International Kidney. If I grew this same variety on the island of Jersey I would be allowed to call them Jersey Royal. Anyway, my broccoli has been just about ready for the past couple of days so I picked my first bunch today and ate them 'still squealing' just steamed for 5 minutes and served with a hint of melted butter. mmmmm
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