OLD-FASHIONED COMPANION PLANTING

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Rhubarb

Anative of Turkey, and best adapted to cool climates, rhubarb is one of the few garden plants cultivated for its stems only. Leaves and roots contain oxalic acid among other poisons and are toxic. Don't plant anywhere toddlers can get at it.

The best way to obtain plants is to convince a gardening neighbor that her plants are overgrown (which they probably are). At anytime of year, but best done when the plants are dormant, drive a sharp spade down through the middle of any rhubarb plant and grub out whichever half comes most easily. Put compost in the hole and the mother plant will be spurred into renewed vigor. Divide the reddish, knobby-topped root cluster into quart-jar-sized cuttings and pop into your garden. Or you can buy divisions at most garden supply houses in the spring. I don't know of any mail-order sources, as the plant divisions are bulky and cannot be shipped bare-root and dry.

To harvest, pull the large, thick stems away from the plant base, big spade-shaped petiole, and the lower end and all. Snap off the leaf, wash the stem if needed, and cut into half-inch sections. For a crisp, tangy stewed fruit dish, cook slowly till juice is out and pieces are just soft....simmer with ap-inch of salt and an equal amount of sugar in just enough water to cover the pan bottom. Don't cook too long unless you like it broken up and slimy. Mix uncooked with equal amounts of halved strawberries and white granulated sugar for a tart pie filling.

From my great Aunts, I learned to cook early rhubarb with rehydrated dried fruit (home-dried apricots and cranberries, California prunes and raisins) or with home-canned sour cherries. We enjoyed it chilled in bowls as stewed fruit, as a filler for tarts, or spread on bread. This was how the old-timers "stretched" one of the first harvestable garden crops of the year.

Horseradish

This big coarse rooted member of the Mustard family is a hardy and vigorous plant with rough-looking leaves and a root resembling a coarse skinned parsnip some two to three inches across at top, tapering to an inch or less and breaking in the ground at a length of six to 12 inches. A South Eastern European native, it has been adding tang to meals on this continent since the early 1700s.

Maliner Kren is the standard Bavarian cultivated variety. You can buy cuttings by mail in lots of five or six for about $1.50 per root. Cheaper and easier is to get a few roots from a gardening neighbor (late fall is best, but you can dig them anytime of year) or buy roots from a fancy greengrocer. Slice each root into four to 12 four-inch-long pencil-sized slips. Be sure that each contains a section of outer hide and a portion of the buttonlike flat top (where leaves once grew and will sprout again). Let the cuttings dry till the cut sides cure. I like to plant them in late winter—flat top up—an inch or so deep in a 6" pot filled with potting soil and keep them on a sunny windowsill till leaves come up. When soil is warm, I transplant them outdoors, mulch, and forget them till they are dug up in the fall and stored in the cellar with other root vegetables.

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