Spring Again

The soil temperature is finally warming up, encouraging soil microbes to increase their levels of metabolism. Seeds that sulked in the ground for weeks are now sprouting. Their internal temperature sensors must be telling them, “Go for it! This is the moment, before the weeds smother us. Time to grow!”

I’m planting a new variety of Rhubarb, Alaska Rhubard. The story is that this variety was bred as a ‘no fail’ plant that gold prospectors could grow in the wild places of the North. All these many years later, some patches of Alaska rhubarb still thrive and mark the locations of the old mining camps. Modern gardeners have collected these stalwart plants and distributed them through the ‘Would you like a Cutting?” network. I collected my cutting from a friend on Marrowstone Island . I’ll grow a clump, then distribute more cuttings to friends and perhaps donate some to the Master Gardeners plant sale next year. This is, literally, the home grown method of maintaining genetic diverse and useful plant varieties.