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A rhubarb patch is a wonderful thing! The plant comes up very early in the spring and the large, dark green leaves with their red stems are a harbinger of things to come in the rest of the garden. What's more - rhubarb is the first "crop" you can harvest from your garden! By late May, the stems are large enough to cut and turn into delicious pies and crumbles, or put away as jams and relishes.
If you don't yet have a rhubarb growing in your garden, there's nothing easier than getting one started. If you're the sort of gardener who likes a challenge, it's possible to start rhubarb from seed, but quite frankly the easiest way is to find a friend who'll give you a piece of root stock from their plants. Or you can order rhubarb roots from any number of catalogs. Rhubarb can get carried away with itself, so make sure you plant it at the back of your vegetable or flower garden where it won't overwhelm your other plants. It likes a nice sunny spot, but can tolerate shade.
Early spring is the best time to divide rhubarb. Just dig down to the roots and cut off a piece with a knife or spade, making sure you have at least one growth bud. Turn your soil, dig in some compost then plant your piece of root a couple of inches down and cover it up. Space plants 18 inches apart. You'll get some growth the first year but I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until the second year before you can harvest.
Rhubarb stalks are at their best when picked young. Don't let them get thicker than one inch or they will be tough. Pinch off any flower stalks to encourage more leaf stalks and don't harvest more than half of the plant's stalks or it will become weak and your harvest next year will suffer.
If you have a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity, don't eat too much rhubarb as the oxalic acid in this plant can aggravate these conditions. NEVER eat the leaves as they are poisonous!
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