Growing Rhubarb : How to to Grow Rhubarb - Season, Plants, Seeds, Harvesting

Everything you should know in growing rhubarb. We show you how to grow rhubarb and give you tips to make your rhubarb season a success. We show you how to plant rhubarb from seeds, crowns, the soil conditions and how to harvest your rhubarb when it is ready. Rhubarb is a very strange plant, because although the leaves are highly toxic, and are not to be eaten at any cost, the stems are perfectly safe.

GROWING RHUBARB: The Rhubarb Plant:

Rhubarb is a perennial, often classified as a vegetable, but really a fruit, and it will grow quite happily in your garden year after year. If the soil is particularly good it can spread over 3 - 4 feet and grow just as high. So remember this when spacing out your seedlings!

They will grow in any type of soil, however, if they soil is light and rich with humus and in a sunny and open area your rhubarb will thrive.

GROWING RHUBARB: Soil Preparation:

Good soil preparation is the key. Prepare the bed in early spring and add at least 3 inches of well-rotted farmyard manure to the bed. Poultry manure and good compost is an excellent mix.

GROWING RHUBARB: The Rhubarb Season:

Your seeds should be sown in spring and your first harvest should be late spring, early summer the following year. You can forced in mid-winter by placing a bucket upside down over the rhubarb plant. All daylight must be shut out and a thick mulch should be placed around the rim of the bucket. By doing this the stalks should be ready to be harvested in about 3 weeks. The plant can be re-covered to force more stalks, but once used this way the plant should be discarded as it will take a long time for it to recover.

GROWING RHUBARB: Rhubarb from Seed:

Growing this vegetable from seed is one of the easiest ways of cultivating rhubarb. Although most rhubarb shouldn't be harvested the first year the variety "Glaskin's Perpetual" is one variety that you can start picking in the first year.

Simply sow the seeds outdoors in shallow drills or indoors in trays or boxes during spring. Thin or transplant them to 6 inches apart, and when they begin to touch transplant them out to about 3 feet apart.

GROWING RHUBARB: Rhubarb by Plant:

The rhubarb plant when purchased from the nursery comes in the form of rhubarb crowns. Again, one should wait at least a year before harvesting your rhubarb.

Prepare the holes for your rhubarb so that the hole is just deep enough to allow small shoots to protrude from the surface of the soil, and wide enough to take the whole rootstock. When planting your rhubarb, make sure that the crowns are at soil level.

Top dress the soil with well-rotted farmyard manure or homemade compost each winter or early spring. Lightly fork this into the surface. Feed with a liquid fertilizer every summer. After 4 years lift the crowns and after dividing them into smaller plants during spring and replant.

GROWING RHUBARB: Rhubarb Flowers:

Never let your plants go to flower. If you see any flower stems appearing, cut them off.

GROWING RHUBARB: Harvesting

When harvesting your rhubarb never be too eager to pull the stems from new plants. Pick only from those that are well established and pick the largest stems. This allows the root to get well established. When pulling the stems from the plants, hold the stem near the base and gently pull downwards and outwards with a twisting movement. This will cause the stem to come away from the plant cleanly without breaking the plant from the crown or having it come right out of the ground.

It is also wise not to allow the stems to turn yellow on the plant. By doing this, you will promote more and larger stems.

GROWING RHUBARB: Pests

Luckily this is a plant that suffers from few pests and diseases. Occasionally you will find your rhubarb being invaded with snails, but they can be easily dispensed with by leaving snail traps made with bowls submerged in the soil filled with beer, or placing sawdust, crushed egg shell, or similar material around your plants as they don't like crawling on such surfaces.

If you see reddish-brown spots on the leaves, your plant could have rust. And sometimes you may have a problem with the caterpillar of the white apple moth. See our page on Natural Pesticides for organic solutions to pests in your garden.

How much Rhubarb is Enough?:

Usually 6-8 rhubarb crowns is enough for one family. An established rhubarb plant can yield about 4.5 kg of fruit for a year, but remember that this is spread over period of about 6 months as you would be able to harvest from late winter through to summer. And of course there is lots one can do with them, not just rhubarb crumble. See our recipe section for rhubarb recipes.