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Dear Helen: I am looking for easily and quickly made recipes for using the masses ofÌýbeautiful rhubarb in my garden this spring.

T.D.

I have some favourites, including rhubarb meringue pie and rhubarb cheesecake.

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Rhubarb Meringue Pie

For this recipe, I used a shortbread crust (made the day before and stored in the fridge) instead of my usual, regular type pie crust.

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Shortbread crust

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp icing sugar

1 cup flour

Filling

3 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanill

4 cups chopped rhubarb

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

For the crust, Combine all ingredients and press into a nine-inch pie plate. Bake at 350ÌýF for 12Ìýminutes.

For the filling, Beat everything except rhubarb together. Stir in rhubarb. Pour into crust. Bake 40 minutes or until custard is set, at the same temperature.

For the meringue, beat egg whites and sugar together until the blend forms soft peaks. Spread over pie. Continue baking until the meringue is lightly browned.

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Rhubarb Cheesecake

Rhubarb cooked into a sauce makes a lovely and delicious cheesecake topping. Use a crust of your choice — a regular flour-based one, a shortbread crust or graham cracker crust. Here’s my preferred, simplest cheesecake filling with the sauce.

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Cheesecake filling

225 gram (8 oz) package cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Rhubarb topping

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 cups chopped rhubarb

1/4 cup water or orange juice

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For the filling, blend ingredients and spread onto crust. (Bake flour-based crusts for 10 minutes before filling.)

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 F. until the filling has set and is lightly browned. Cool.

For the sauce, combine first three ingredients in a saucepan. Stir in rhubarb and liquid. Cook and stir until thickened. Cool. Pour over cheesecake. Chill in fridge.

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Dear Helen: I love the anise flavour of fennel and the plant’s graceful, feathery appearance, especially in purple fennel; however, I’ve been told it is invasive. What alternatives would give me a similar look? Does any other plant look somewhat alike and have the same delightful, fresh flavour?

F.I.

Fennel, both purple and green, is considered invasive. It is a perennial plant that self-sows prodigiously to colonize grasslands, roadsides, and empty lots. The deep, thick taproot makes digging mature plants out an arduous task.

For the same feathery foliage and licorice or anise scent and flavour, aÌýgood alternative is Florence fennel (bulbing fennel, finocchio). This plant isÌýsmaller at 60 to 90 centimetres rather than the 120 to 180 centimetres of common fennel. Florence fennel produces aÌýcrisp, juicy bulb with a delicate taste of anise. The bulb’s ribs are delicious baked, or added to salads.

Dill has similar feathery foliage and is a useful flavouring. The flowers, which have umbel shaped flowers similar to those of fennel, attract and feed beneficial insects.

Another ferny-leaved plant but with different, daisy type flowers, is cosmos. This is a charming and popular, old-fashioned annual flower.

Ìý

Dear Helen: How deep can I set my tomato transplants into the soil? The plants have grown a bit leggy.

L.T.

It is fine, and desirable, to bury the entire stem, right up to the top few leaves. First, remove the leaves that would otherwise be buried with the stem.

This deep planting gives the advantage of an extra strong root system as roots grow out from the length of buried stem.

You can plant the stem straight down to take advantage of deep soil moisture, or, if the soil is easy to keep consistently moist, you have the option of planting at a slant to keep the roots in warmth.

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GARDEN EVENTS

Plant sale. A Garden Babies for Birthright plantÌýsale will be held on Saturday,Ìý10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 798 Goldstream Ave. in Langford. The sale features striking foliage plants and colourful flowers as well as shrubs, perennials, ground covers, herbs and vegetables. This sale is also known for its drought tolerant and deer resistant plants.

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Show and tea. The Cowichan Valley Garden Club will host a Spring Flower Show and Tea onÌýSaturday, 1 to 4 p.m. in St. Peter’s Church Hall, 5800 Church Rd. in Duncan. There will beÌýfloral demos by Andrea Strachan, with theÌýdesigns auctioned at 3:30. Admission $4,Ìýtea $4.