Oh Joy!

Today I went to plant some more rhubarb - the last scraggly ones on Walmart's shelves. I discovered the other three rhubarb we planted a couple of years ago are coming back, in various stages of development.



I also cut some bamboo canes today to make some waddle (ha ha, looked it up and it is wattle, not waddle) fencing, like they use in colonial Williamsburg, so that we can mark off the rhubarb patch. I think traditional wattle fencing is made of saplings, but since we happen to have bamboo I want to try it. The newly emerging plants are somewhat outside of where I thought they should be, so this will help keep track of things.

Awaiting Asparagus

This may look like a barren patch of nothing, but soon there will be tender green asparagus popping up. (The pile of brush is composed of the stalks we let go to seed last year.) We have to remember to start checking every day about this time of year because it comes on strong and grows quickly. This patch was planted many years ago by my parents and has stubbornly clung to life despite neglect and competition from black walnut trees. I know it's over 25 years old because an Army friend of mine earned goody points with my dad by weeding it in 1987. We cleared it out last year and are eager to see if it will continue to thrive.

The tree at the end of the patch is a fig tree, also planted by my father, that bears many figs each year which the birds happily devour. I would like to work out an agreement with them this year that they have the top of the tree and we have the bottom.

Aloe Repot Revisited

The aloe plants that I repotted a few days ago look sad. A wise person has informed me that peat moss has exactly the opposite properties of sand and is, therefore, a poor substitute. Duh, you say? Okay - that's fair.

So now I have repotted them again, this time using a mix of potting soil, sand and small gravel. I hated to traumatize them again but I don't know if they would make it otherwise. I will report back on this topic as things develop.

Welcome Rhubarb

This is what rhubarb looks like when it emerges in the spring - like little baby cabbages pushing through the earth. I cleared out the bed and this is the one rhubarb coming back where there should be four - I hope the others will be along shortly. I had always heard that rhubarb doesn't like the southern heat, but the farmer who I got my plants from said if you plant them where they get 6-8 hours of morning sun, then afternoon shade, they can do well. I need to give them more attention this year.

What a treat rhubarb is! Of course we love strawberry-rhubarb pie, and last year I found a recipe on Martha Stewart's website for Rhubarb Buckle. It has a bar cookie/cake texture and is so good.

Aloe Kitty

It's a beautiful weekend in east Tennessee. I repotted an overgrown aloe plant - and now I have at least ten potted aloes. There are good instructions at www.blogsmonroe.com - when I get better at blogging I will make a link. Basically, aloe need good drainage from a soil mixed with gravel and sand or other grit. I didn't have sand but used peat moss and small gravel mixed into potting soil.