RHUBARB is like Marmite, in that people either love it or hate it. On one side you have those of us with sophisticated palates who delight in its explosive, zingy flavour and will devour it in everything from crumble and tarts to wine and gin, then there are the plebs, who treat this great vegetable with disdain.
If you’re a gardener and you don’t like rhubarb that’s a shame because there are few plants that ask so little yet deliver so much year after year. A hardy perennial with large leaves atop long stalks that go from green to red, it is the latter that is the edible part, while the foliage is poisonous.
There are few things you can plant over winter but as long the ground isn’t frozen, rhubarb is one of them. Any time between now and May should be fine, as it tends to take a few years to settle in before it starts producing a decent crop.
It’s recommended investing in a good variety for the best taste. Rhubarb is normally sold in a pot, which at this time of year will look rather underwhelming. In a matter of weeks, however, a few green buds should appear and by June you’ll have a fully-fledged rhubarb plant.
Best results will be achieved by planting in full sun in a decent-size hole backfilled with homemade compost. Hand weed regularly around the crown to keep it free of competition. It’s best to harvest modestly in the plant’s formative years, and when removing the stalks always snap off cleanly from the base rather than cut, as this minimises the risk of disease.
This is a plant that needs sub-zero temperatures to help it break dormancy, which is why it’s advisable to remove dead leaves at the end of the growing season, as these act as a mulch, giving frost protection. That said, positioning your plant in a frost pocket could lead to damage to the emerging young stems in spring.
The best varieties are the compact but high-yielding Hawkes Champagne (AGM), the autumn-cropping ‘Livingstone’, and thick-stemmed, early cropper Timperley Early (AGM).
Also worth seeking out for flavour are ‘Valentine’ and ‘The Sutton’, which were both named Which? Gardening Best Buys back in 2013.
The sweetness of the rhubarb stalks is dependent on the variety, age and the growing method, with ‘forced’ rhubarb, providing the sweetest stalks of all.
In order to force rhubarb, which also means you have an earlier crop by two-three weeks, the crown is covered by bespoke ceramic forcing jars or an upturned bucket, depriving the plant of any light.
The stems continue to grow but have a paler appearance and are more tender. If you do force a plant, give it a year to recover before doing the same again.
Problems are few with rhubarb, with the self-explanatory crown rot being the most common. Caused by various soil or water-borne fungi or bacteria, it is best tackled by removing the affected areas.
Also keep an eye out for a rare rhubarb flower, as this will sap your plants energy and reduce its yield, so cut – or snap – off the flower stalks or lift the entire plant and split the crown, producing new reinvigorated plants.
