My Favourite Way to Use Rhubarb

The rhubarb vegetable is one of my favourite plants to have in the garden. It’s a fun spring ingredient to add to some baking and those tart little suckers will show your taste buds who’s boss. But, the high levels of oxalate in it’s leaves could kill you, so…if you didn’t know that….I just saved your life.

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I still love the leaves.

I fell in love with them when I saw my friend/neighbours amazing massive rhubarb variety. I don't know what variety it is exactly, but that thing is glorious. In 2019, when my neighbour was on vacation, I asked her if I could use her rhubarb leaves for my garden. She said yes.

People. I wish I could show you a photo of this rhubarb. The stalks were the size of my leg, and I could have used the leaves to tuck myself into bed at night.

Bit by bit - I got the plant cut down. I didn’t want to waste the stalks so I brought those home, too, to make rhubarb juice. I made a stupid amount of rhubarb juice and gave it back to my friend. They’re set for life. Sorry about your freezer space, friend.

This is where my love for rhubarb leaves began.

The leaves work perfectly as ground cover on my garden paths. Once I cut the weeds out from the mulch, I layered the leaves on top to keep any new weeds smothered out. It looked pretty cool, too.

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(Using rhubarb leaves as ground cover on the paths. This was the first summer with our no-dig kitchen garden (2019).)

The leaves eventually dry out, become crispy, and break apart - becoming a part of the carbon material.

The next year (2020) I asked my neighbour if I could dig up some roots to transplant into my own garden. I came home with a box full of roots and planted them in the mulch all around the mandala, kitchen garden. It took off right away. There is five plants around the back of the garden, and one under a crab apple tree.

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(The first spring after transplanting a piece of rhubarb root.)

This plant is so resilient.

We’ve been having more extreme cold during our winters. The trees have been suffering and many of ours have died.

Not the rhubarb! It even survived being the chicken’s favourite spot to dust bathe, and being completely covered up with cardboard and straw (we thought it was dead). The rhubarb still pushed through it! I’m so proud of it.

Now that rush to get the gardens planted is over, I have been catching up on the weeding maintenance. I went through the mulch with my handy dandy rice knife, to “chop and drop” the weeds, and then I used the biggest rhubarb leaves to cover the mulch. There isn’t enough to cover the whole mulch area, but it’s a start. I have faith that these rhubarb plants will take after their mammoth momma, and that will be good for my gardening ego.

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Another reason to love rhubarb…they’re beautiful.

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For more, check out the YouTube video!

Have you tried using rhubarb this way in the garden?!

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