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Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-295
Rhubarb
Rheum rhabarbarum
Rhubarb's edible part is the tart pink-to-green leaf stalk, usually stewed with sugar for pies and jam - the broad leaf blade itself is toxic and gets stripped off at harvest. It is naturally a long-lived perennial that needs a long hard winter to reset itself, so where summers run hot the usual crown rots and dies; grown instead from seed as a one-season winter crop, it still produces a full harvest before the heat takes it. Even the toxic leaves earn their keep - simmered in hot water they make a genuine homemade insecticide.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 24–36 in
- Mature spread
- 3–4 ft
- Plant spacing
- 3–4 ft
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
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Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
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Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Anise Hyssop
Agastache foeniculum
Anise hyssop is a genuine dual-purpose herb: the leaves and flowers taste like sweet anise and work raw, cooked, or steeped for tea, and the…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–8
Apple Mint
Mentha suaveolens
Apple Mint is a fast-spreading perennial with densely hairy, spearmint-flavored leaves, usually chopped into a dish or brewed as a tea rather…
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- Primary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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