 | Rhubarb Plants Cultural Advice |
| The rhubarb you receive are very young plants. The aim for the first 12 months is to produce as much as possible underground. Remove limp leaves as they occur, by cutting them halfway up the stem. These, limp leaves, occur because this is a juvenile plant, and also because they have been grown in a greenhouse, where there is little wind to encourage strong stem development. Removing leaves also stimulates more leaves to grow from the crown of the plant, and also encourages growth below the soil, thereby making a stronger plant, that can survive winter better. Rhubarb is easy to grow, producing masses of delicious stalks every year. Only the rhubarb stalks are edible. Never eat rhubarb leaves as these are extremely poisonous – compost these instead. Rhubarb can be used in a variety of ways but is usually stewed with a little sugar and used in crumbles and as a nutritious topping for porridge. You can also use rhubarb to make cordials and other drinks. Despite being a vegetable, rhubarb is considered to be one of the earliest fruits of the year. By forcing rhubarb in late winter, you can be harvesting delicious rhubarb stalks as early as March. PlantingRhubarb needs an open, sunny or partially shaded site, and rich, moist soil. It will grow well in a sunny, open site, on a wide range of soils, as long as it has been well-prepared with plenty of manure or compost. Rhubarb can be grown in a container but you'll get much better results from growing rhubarb in the ground.Planting CrownsPlant crowns as soon as soil is workable, blend in plenty of well-rotted manure or compost, or improve the soil with Growmore, or feed twice a week with a balanced liquid feed like tomato feed, they are hungry feeders. Rhubarb crowns require shallow planting (around 4 inches deep), but because plants are such heavy feeders, you should dig planting holes at least a foot deep, and incorporate some well rotted horse manure, If your soil is heavy clay, you may want to consider planting rhubarb in raised beds filled with a high quality soil.Planting Deep Rooted Cell PlantsDig a hole twice as deep and twice as wide as the plant. Into this hole incorporate some good quality compost, and this is the important thing, compost that has some well drained material added, like sand, perlite, at a rate of 50/50. This will help the drainage around the plant, and if you don't do this, the plant may suffer from crown rot and die !EatingDon't eat the leaves. Only eat the stems, and best you pull no more than a third at any time, and only eat stems less than 1" in diameter, otherwise they may be stringy. Any leaves bigger than an inch are best pulled and thrown away, or collect allot and make some wine with them. If you have not tasted rhubarb wine, make some ! It's cheap, and works wonders if you can sleep!Do not eat stems if you have had a heavy frost in the last 24 hours, as frost passes toxic levels from the leaves to the stems ProblemsRhubarb does not suffer too much from problems, except crown rot, which will rot the plant if you plant too deep, or into soil that is not well drained. So make sure the plants crown is slightly above ground when planting. |