Friday 29th August, 2014
The fluffy season has begun !!!!X
Hi
Is Rhubarb a Vegetable or Fruit
Dad often leaves a dessert on the bench of some recipe that he has found as he can't eat it all himself and its one of the few times that he isn't actually at our place for dinner. Lucky us huh but let me tell you that not all are that memorable and the first time that he made this dessert I had to ask what fruit he had used.... But we had this Maple Rhubarb Crumb pie last night and its really quite delicious and looks impressive. I think that its the Maple syrup that quite changes the flavour of the Rhubarb. Now Rhubarb is a pretty easy to grow fruit or vege call it what you want and so useful for cooking with. Interestingly enough, in the United States, Rhubarb was considered a vegetable, however in 1947, a New York court decided that since Rhubarb was mostly used in the US as a fruit, it counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction on imported rhubarb tariffs, as tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits.
It does slow up growing in the winter but I noticed yesterday that my plant in the potager garden had some stalks there ready for the picking. It has awesome large leaves so could also look pretty cool in the flower garden where those huge leaves make a statement. You could use it Rhubarb in a flower garden or in foliage style gardens instead of other leafy plants.
I'm writing this and know very little about this plant other than the stalks that we eat and the leaves are toxic to people due to the oxalic acid they contain . Proper name is Rheum rabarbarum and its belongs to the Polgonaceae family and if you look at its flowers they are probably quite typical of it family origins though way larger. You are going to say what is a typical flower of the pologonaceae family and a quick one that springs to mind and we would all be familar with is the weed Dock. I will just quickly add, there are ornamental garden plants but they are probably not so well known.
The part that we eat is actually the leaf stem (the correct tech term is petioles) which in the case of rhubarb are large and fleshy as opposed to most leaf stalks that we are familar with. Another use that I didn't know and will appeal to those that like to make natural dyes, is the root is useful for making a rich brown dye and used where walnut shells are not available.
Espaliered Chaenomeles...... Easier to do... than say!! Well maybe ?
Chaenomeles japonica or flowering Quince, maybe Japanese Quince. Now I have always thought of these being ornamental quinces as opposed to the real quinces that are apparently related to apples.... I had thought pears. Now Chaenomeles belong to the family of Roses and they flower on bare branches in the winter with delightful single white red or orange flowers. The flowers are followed by these fruits that look similar to the real quince which had I always thought were just that, ornamental, but according to my friend Mr Google, can be used for cooking. Apparently they are quite unpleasant and astringent eaten raw but better after a frost when they are said to be bletted. They are used for making liqueurs, marmalade and preserves as they contain more pectin than true quince and apples. They even contain more vitamin C than a lemon.
Now whilst you can grow these as a shrub in the garden they do lend themselves to be espaliered on a fence or a wall especially if you take the time and do it properly . Don't get too hung up on the word as its just a technique that all can do and with all the fences around its a good way to grow a plant flat. The bonus being flowers in the winter when there is not much else.
All you need is do is attached approx 3 wires around 50 to 60 cm apart on your wall or fence and train the chaenomeles on the wires. after the spring flush and in the summer continue training the appropriate growths along the wires and remove the surplus growth back to the main stems leaving shorter growths to flower the next season. Now you can train many plants flat along a wall like this and that include apples pears and even citrus and Camellias so for you that have small sections and lots of fence then grow your garden flat
Now that Harry bought a heap of these because he got a bargain of both white
Yokuku and one called
Early Orange and they are at good prices too. check them out...
I have this theory and that is people who are passionate about plants are just a tad eccentric and are totally driven in the search for a new flower, leaf or whatever. Can you imagine buying frozen lily bulbs from overseas and growing them out of season to get the latest fab new flower. You wouldn't want to muddle them up in the freezer and think that they were frozen onions LOL!!
I have to say that my friend Chris has organised just this and she had some surplus to offer of the latest LA hybrids and oriental lilies. I m pretty sure that that she is plannining this kind of thing again for next year because I don't think that Chris actually got the one that she was after. This means that no one else has these. Now all plants aren't created equal and I think that these may be abit fragile to courier so if interested I think that the best course us to come in and check them out.
If you are keen to know Whats New in then check this link.Its must be Spring LOL well with such a perfect week it certainly feels that it has arrived, Goodness we have even had to start watering. Anyways the point is all the fluff and stuff has started to come in. All what I call the pretties .... perennials....
These weeks keep rolling around and its the weekend is here again. Spent an awesome day in our garden yesterday and finally got all our pruning done. Just have to throw some fertiliser around and apply some mulch to the soil and hopefully in time for the rain to was it in.
Have a great weekend!
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag.
