Subject: Rhubarb

From: [email-masked] (Barrie Partridge)
Date: Fri, 05 Apr 1996 22:41:00 +1000

Greetings from Port Franklin, friendliest place in Oz!

       G'day Michael,

     .....PS does it grow from seed?

       Indeed it does and I believe Thomson and Morgan are a source 
       for them - but it would be several years before the plant was 
       strong enough to provide you with pie-fillings.

 d_> I never saw rhubarb flower!
 
       But the DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
       
       Growers cut out any flower stems they see for they rob the 
       rhizome of food and if it survives the loss it will be ages 
       before you can get another crop from it.
       
       To harvest DO NOT CUT the leaf stem from the base, pull and 
       twist it away.  Then trim off the leaf which cannot be eaten 
       even when cooked.  My grandfather grew the thickest rhubarb I 
       have ever seen (around 1940) and he achieved that by using the 
       rhubarb bed as the repository for kitchen waste and for all the
       horse droppings I could find in the street.
       
       Folk used to watch that activity (shovelling up the droppings) 
       and ask "What's that for?"
       
       To the response "To put on the rhubarb." they would always 
       retort "Cor!  We put custard on ours!"
       
       Enjoy your harvest!
       
           Tweet tweet!  Time to go back on my perch now!
           Barrie, the Pear Tree Twit.

... Searching for the roots of the family Pear tree!
~~~ Blue Wave/386 v2.20