Quick garden question

[IRescue452]

I'm taking care of my neighbor's house for a while and her rhubarb needs to be picked before it goes to seed. She usually gives it to a few friend because she doesn't like it herself. Some of it is real red while the rest is still green and I'm wondering if it matters if you pick and use the red or green. If anyone here uses rhubarb, what color stalks do you prefer / when do you pull it?

[Glacier]

Depends what kind of rhubarb it is. Some kinds never turn red. I have a huge green rhubarb in my yard. It makes great relish and chutney. If you're using green rhubarb in a pie or crisp, just add a couple extra tablespoons of sugar to the recipe and it will taste great! I make stawberry-rhubarb crisps with mine all the time.

Don't pull it, just cut the stalks off at the bottom, close to the dirt. It will grow a new crop that way.

Also keep the leaves away from your dogs. Rhubarb leaves are toxic to dogs, the stalks are safe.

[IRescue452]

Thanks. Also, if leave it on the cubbard for a day or two do you think it will ripen good? I ws always told that if you pick something too soon it wil get a little more ripe when left out for a few days. I heard that you are supposed to pull the stalks at the bottom since it is an established plant and it will grow back. I didn't know the leaves were toxic to dogs but there are no dogs in her fenced in yard except when I bring Autumn with me when I do yard work.

[Glacier]

Originally posted by IRescue452
Thanks. Also, if leave it on the cubbard for a day or two do you think it will ripen good?

I heard that you are supposed to pull the stalks at the bottom since it is an established plant and it will grow back.

I think rhubarb stops ripening once it's picked.

You can't kill rhubarb so really it probably doesn't matter how you pick it! It's really a weed that's edible. It grows wild around the Yukon. That stuff just won't die! Trust me, I've tried to kill mine! Last fall, my husband dumped a dump truck full of dirt right where the rhubarb plant is. I figured that was the end of it, but this spring, there is rhubarb growing through the dirt! I still have frozen rhubarb from last summer's crop!