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.

So far I've mainly been filling bird and squirrel feeders.

Here is where I will post photos and updates of my efforts to become a yard and garden person. I have a goal in 2013 to focus on doing a little each day on this 2.5 acre property.