Though I had rhubarb pie but once and it has been decades, it may be time to try it once again since taste buds to mature and change.  Why in the world would I be inspired to do this?  From reading Caramelize Life’s article called The Barb Is On,

I’ve often heard folks describe rhubarb as a weed or make comments like, ‘what would I do with it?’ To which I respond, ‘I’d be happy to take that off your hands so it’s not in your way.’ I’ll never say no to free barb.

Rhubarb sauce over yogurt was a staple growing up as it is in our home now. We regularly harvest, beginning now, and make sauces for breakfast dishes, lunches and snacks. If the seed stalk is kept cut back, and you trim your barb as it ripens, you can keep a plant producing all summer long.

Break down and try it again, I might!

Photo from Simple Bites.

Photo from Craftzine.com.

While I am like former President George Bush in the fact that I really do not enjoy broccoli, seeing this purple sprouting broccoli is almost enough to make me change my mind!  There are several really good recipes for this old English type broccoli, including sauteed or pasta. Besides eating, the pleasure may actually be in the growing of this beautiful vegetable.

The Garden Smallholder tells us that you should be patient to grow purple sprouting broccoli,

… right now it’s sending out side shoots of purple florets, just for me. I’m eagerly harvesting these florets, and jolly nice they are too. The more you pick the more you get, just don’t let those pretty purple buds flower, otherwise it’s game over. Would I grow it again? Probably. For the sheer fact that it’s a very tasty crop when little else is available in the vegetable garden. It’s rather expensive to buy in the supermarkets too, another good reason to grow it.

Beautiful AND delicious!

Photo by Apartment Therapy.

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I was once given a beautiful rosemary plant. It was dead within two months, but while it was healthy the smell that filled the room was wonderful!  Susan of Juniper Moon Farm has the lofty goal of growing an entire hedge made of rosemary.

It’s a long-term dream, because our growing season isn’t quiet long enough to make it happen very quickly. So we’ve taken the long view, and plotted out a five year plan to reach our goal.

This is year one, the year for growing lots of rosemary in pots. Rather than buying a dozen or so expensive plants though, we opted to propagate our own from cuttings. It’s crazy easy and a big money saver.

Click through to read about how to grow rosemary from your own clippings.

We tried a community garden in my town, but people kept stealing the vegetables. How sad.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, my sister and I are “plotting” to build our mom a pallet garden.  She always loved gardening, but as she has gotten older it’s been difficult for her.  With a pallet garden, our mom will be able to easily keep the weeds at bay while growing the vegetables she loves.

From The Micro Gardener, here are 20 Creative Ways to Upcycle Pallets in Your Garden,

An amazing quantity of food can be grown in a one square metre pallet garden. This one is intensively planted with luscious veggies!

This will be a fun project!

It drives me crazy when my tomatoes crack. It does not detract from their taste, but mentally they do seem more delicious without the big cracks.  So what causes this? What can a gardener do to fix this?

Stop watering them so much!  According to Tomato Dirt, the key to a nice, plump, crack-free tomato is less water,

How do you prevent cracks?
1. Plant crack-resistant tomato varieties that have elastic skin, including Daybreak, Early Girl, Earl of Edgecombe, Heinz 1350, Jet Star, Juliet, Mountain Delight, Mountain Pride, and Valley Girl.
2. Mulch plants (wait until they’re established – about 3-5 weeks after planting) to help retain moisture in the soil.

There are all kinds of great tomato tips here!

Photo by The Stars The Moon on Tumblr.