The Poultry Keeper

vivaciousviv · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 86 Location: Lot Valley

Loads of muck it is. I have five crowns of Red Champage I planted last year. Didn't harvest last year but this year....whoaaa....we will be having rhubarb crumble icecream in the freezer and rhubarb bricoche pudding in our tummies. Oh and I have rhubarb preserved in vanilla vodka in the Cave. Enjoy Mojo. Viv

NannyP · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject:

Well, the good thing is, Moj and I planted ours last year...so we will be eating it this year Very Happy

What I didn't realise, until the other day, is...you should only pull 2 or 3 stalks from one plant at a time, this leaves it with leaves to help it recover from the plundering....so I could do with 2 or 3 more crowns (I saw some the other day in HyperU) so will buy some more tomorrow.

vanessa · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 1231 Location: Correze

Depends how established your crowns are, NannyP. Once they're "rampant" as long as you leave at least 25% of the stalks on, it'll be fine.

crazywelshchuck · Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 95

Hi
just seen this topic on rhubarb, well my mother in law gave me her plants a few years ago as not doing to well in her garden planted it next to my compost heap where all the chicken bedding/poo gets dumped and it is now 3-4ft high and about 2 and half inches thick we have entered it for the past few years into local shows and won hands down no one can believe it. I am convinced its the chicken poo, but also in winter as we are 800ft up on Snowdonia mountain range I cover it with barley straw from my nest boxes to stop the frost same for my strawberries and they are fab too.
If you live near North Wales you can have some of my rhubarb for your pie!!!

NannyP · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 10:34 am Post subject:

Wow, sounds like you have the answer....I'll have to think about either moving the compost heap or the rhubarb Very Happy

Loudmouth Schnook · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:40 pm Post subject:

when to harvest rhubarb? It's nearly July and they are quite developed in leaf and stalk - is it too late?

crazypianolady · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 724 Location: Nottinghamshire

I pick mine until the end of July, the outside gets a bit tough so I usually peel it. Mine is a well established crown, though. If yours is a young-ish plant (less than three years) I'd leave for this year.

EGirl · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 1110 Location: Dublin, Ireland

Hi! I was delighted to get two crowns of Rhubard yesterday and have put them in next to the heap further to reading this thread. It's not a sunny spot by any means, but given they strive for light, I thought a bit of shade might help the stalk and therefore the taste. Am I making it up as I go along?

Also, my new crowns have nice little stalks that look tempting, but I won't touch this year, will they be good to use next summer?

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2474 Location: South Cumbria

It all dies back in the winter but you need to leave those stalks to put goodness into the crown best if you get another crown if you are going to force 1 so you have 1 to force 1 to eat in summer and 1 resting

crazywelshchuck · Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 95

Hi
My rhubarb is still going strong already had two big cut which supplied all the family, also got 2nd in North Wales show with and it will be going in the Anglesey show also.

Had loads of rhubarb crumble with fresh cream yummy!!!

crazypianolady · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 724 Location: Nottinghamshire

I made rhubarb and apple mint jelly last week - scrummy!

Highland Hen · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject:

Recently moved into an old cottage in scotland with a very old patch of rhubarb, its not had any care or attention for several years.

Question is should I just cut it all back now its Sept and leave it for the winter and hope it will come back fresh next year? or as its probably many years old should I dig it out and plant some new plants? When we moved here in June it was already all thick and woody and huge leaves, not very tasty at all...... be a shame to lose it as the mother in law planted it years ago.

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 1825 Location: norfolk

If it were my rhubarb, I would look for vigorous looking off growths at the edges of the main plant and chop them off and replant them - as many as you can find to cover any losses that might happen. You are aiming to get lumps of root about double fist size or even larger. It would seem a shame to ditch the lot and I think that plan might make all the difference to next years rhubarb. Although you may not be able to harvest a lot the first year as it will be re-growing. Don't chop of the existing leaves now. wait for the frosts to do it and when the frosts start is the time to split it up. Rhubarb roots seem to improve for being frosted - don't ask me why. Don't forget to give each cutting a good dose of farmyard/horse manure when you plant it, or chicken manure at a pinch. But I think the straw in the former works better for rhubarb. You may well be able to give away or sell rhubarb plants next year!

Highland Hen · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that, will go and have a look for the vigorous off shoots, there is a wasp nest nearby which is making it hard to do much in that area at the moment. Here in the Highlands I think we will be having an early frost, it was only 5 degrees here last night.......

so if after the first frost I manage to find some small off shoots do I then dig out the whole bed of the old woody stuff and replant the smaller ones?

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 1825 Location: norfolk

You may need to cut off the "shoots" with a spade as the roots can be quite tough. Wait until November time anyway, that way the wasps will be gone and the rhubarb plant truly dormant, dig up the whole plant and view the root when you have removed all the earth from it. You should then be able to see where some bits are sticking out from the middle part and might be showing a red colour - a potential shoot in the making. It will depend a lot on how big the root system is at this point as to how many you can cut off and you may want to throw some of the older, middle bits away. Rhubarb is really tough (survival-ly speaking). My next door neighbour used to dig up his rhubarb root every winter and throw it on the roof of his shed to get really frosted as he said this made for better rhubarb when he replanted it in February. I'm not suggesting you go that far, it's just to illustrate how you probably can't kill it with whatever you do to it!