rhubarb starts!

I have Rhubarb! Last year called all the nurseries and no one sells it. This year I found one that would special-order, as a few other people wanted starts too. So today I picked them up. Ugly things, aren't they?

Here is one in its dug hole (the ground was turned over and composted three weeks ago, so it was nice and loose). Instead of digging a huge hole to accommodate the roots, I dug it deep enough, and then made a sort of tunnel for each thick root that had to spread out, then tucked the crumbled soil under and around the crown,

 filled up the hole so just the tip of bud sticking out

 and tamped it down gently. I do hope they survive and give us lots of rhubarb! A. thinks it's silly that I'm planting something I have to wait a year or two before I can eat it, but then I point out how expensive it is in the stores, how brief the season you can buy it, and how much better everything tastes straight out of the garden!

My only concern is that I don't know if my soil will drain well enough; the crowns can rot. They are in a raised bed, so I hope I don't have that problem, but we do get lots of heavy spring rain. And vigilant weeding is a must, and they have to be protected overwinter with mulch. But I'm hopeful, and eager to see how soon new growth begins. The plants can live ten or more years, even longer if when they get very large you divide the crowns and move to a new location.