Garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Davey Crockett]

Frosted Rhubarb
Is rhubarb safe to eat after nature freezes it?

REASON FOR CAUTION
Rhubarb contains oxalate, which have been reported to cause poisoning when large quantities of raw or cooked leaves are ingested. During World War I rhubarb leaves were recommended as a substitute for other veggies that the war made unavailable. Apparently there were cases of acute poisoning and even some deaths. Some animals, including goats and swine, have also been poisoned by ingesting the leaves.


FROST DAMAGE
Rhubarb hit by a frost or freeze can still be eaten provided the stalks are still firm and upright. Leaf injury may be noticeable with some brown or black discoloration on the edges. If the stems appear soft and mushy, do not eat them. Severe cold injury may cause the oxalic acid crystals in the leaves to migrate to the stalks increasing the likelihood of poisoning problems. If in doubt about the safety of eating the stalks, don't. Cut those stalks off and compost them. Allow new stalks to develop before eating, or if it is the end of the growing season, try forcing some rhubarb indoors.

Information provided by:
Tom Kalb, NDSU Extension Horticulturist
Julie Garden-Robinson, NDSU Food and Nutrition Specialist.

 

[Lycanthrope]

This is interesting, guessing maybe concentrations of acid in leaves can vary a bit, but anyway:

[h=2]Oxalic Acid in Rhubarb[/h] The oxalic acid in rhubarb leaves is about 0.5 g/100 g. To reach the lethal dose of 25 grams, a 65 kg human would need to eat 5 kg of leaves. That is a pretty big salad!

 

[LBrandt]

Why not just plant some domesticated asparagus?

Or if you really want the wild, gather up some seed this fall if the birds leave any.

 

[BDub]

At 24 degrees this morning some of the asparagus froze. I picked the good stuff and covered it with leaves. Also covered the onions. I have had them freeze before. I have heard that they will be fine without covering if they have been in the ground at least a week and showing some growth.

 

[AR-15]

Been through this freezing weather to many times, all my seeds and potatoes are still in the bags, will stay there until Memorial Day

 

[WormWiggler]

Is it too early to put in the tomatoes?

 

[BDub]

Tomatoes should stay inside until after the 20th. I hate covering tomatoes in the spring.

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North Dakota weather is a crap shoot for gardeners.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Does anyone have luck growing watermelon ? I keep trying but we are short seasoned and cool here, I have never had any luck even starting them inside. They only get a little bigger than a softball and that's on a good year. The ground is white and it's snowing like crazy here this morning .

 

[Twitch]

Tomatoes should stay inside until after the 20th. I hate covering tomatoes in the spring.

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North Dakota weather is crap.

Fixed it for ya

 

[LBrandt]

Is it too early to put in the tomatoes?

Yes unless you have just a few in containers you can put inside at night.

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Does anyone have luck growing watermelon ? I keep trying but we are short seasoned and cool here, I have never had any luck even starting them inside. They only get a little bigger than a softball and that's on a good year. The ground is white and it's snowing like crazy here this morning .

I do. Short season type, about 90 day "full sun" and water the crap out of them when they start throwing little melons.

 

[Davey Crockett]

LBrandt do you start them inside and transplant ? They like it warm so this year I'm going to try putting fabric down and see if that helps. If I ever get a crop I wanna try making some watermelon wine. Has anyone ever made it or tasted it ?

 

[LBrandt]

I direct sow last week of May. I use old tires or cut down 5 gal. pails add some 10-10-10 fert. and Sevin for cut worms. 8 seeds per hill and thin out the small ones before they start vining, leaving 4 per hill. Put in a little fert about once a month or take a tile spade and bury fish heads and guts as close to hill as possible. (the 5 gal pails work best for that). One year I had some winter squash the dark green acorn style that produced over 300 fruit the size of footballs. Melons I get about 10 per hill of seedless 10# melons.

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I plant no more than 6 hills of watermelon, squash and muskmelon each.

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Also I have very sandyloam soil.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Thank you LB , I'll try that this year and hopefully in the end I'll be able to post a picture of watermelon wine. I've tried the tire trick but it takes just the perfect year up here I think , It could be that I don't fertilize enough too as they seem to grow fast early on and then they slow way down. Squash and pumpkins seem to do well up here so there's still hope.

 

[LBrandt]

The fish heads dug down 16" along side of the 5 gal buckets about when the plants are starting to vine out worked the best for me. The roots will go deep to get to that natural fertilizer then a sprinkle of 10-10-10 when you see the first little melons start. Put the fertilizer inside the five gal. ring and water the hell out of it.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Awesome LB , I will report back . Thanks again. We never tried them when I was a kid so I am trying to figure it out as I go. Another thing I want to try just for the fun of it is peanuts , We had an old timer that used to grow them . I tried a couple years ago but I just used Spanish peanuts out of the cupboard for seed so I wasn't expecting much. They never did sprout.

 

[LBrandt]

I think any peanut that's ready to eat has been roasted to stop the germination, I might be wrong. I went to Gurneys web site and punched in peanuts. All sold out of seed. They said it takes 135 to 140 days growing season for them. Go to their web site They give some good info. I might save a little spot or try a container barrel and see what happens next year.

 

[BDub]

My dad grew peanuts when I was a kid. No idea how they turned out.

I’m pretty sure that sandy loam is the ticket for melons. I have not much luck with the heavy clay soil. Not with water melons anyway. They need lots of water.

 

[tikkalover]

Anyone grow cucumbers using a trellis? If so how do you like it?

 

[LBrandt]

Planted Giant sunflowers next to my cukes last year. as the vines went up the stalks I trimed the leaves so I could find them. Kind of cool picking cukes at eye level.

 

[tikkalover]