Whether tumbled with strawberries for pies, cooked down for sauces or chutneys, or simply eaten raw, dipped in sugar (or salt), rhubarb is here.

The cold-hardy perennial vegetable — it's not a fruit — begins to grow when the soil temperature reaches about 10 C.

Jeannette French of Lennox Farm in Melancthon, Ont., said the lingering winter and ice storms caused delays.

"Usually we're done [harvesting field rhubarb] by the beginning of July. But this year, because it's been so cool, it's pushed the…