perennial > RHUBARB
IN THIS GUIDE
RHUBARB GUIDES
Companion PlantsContainer GrowingFeedingForcingHarvestingOverwinteringPruningSplittingThin StalksVarietiesYellow forget
Rhubarb is a vegetable that often masquerades as a fruit – but it is far more than just that and can be a very utile addition to your garden .
As a recurrent vegetable , rhubarb can be a fantastic plus to a low - maintenance food - producing garden .
Young shoots emerging from rhubarb crowns.
Unlike one-year and biyearly crop , perennial vegetables like rhubarb will return to provide you with an edible takings year after yr .
Overview
PreferredFull Sun
ExposureExposed or Sheltered
Height0.5 – 1 M
Spread0.5 – 1.5 M
PreferredMost Fertile Soil Types
MoistureMoist but well drained
pHAny
Commonly cultivated culinary rhubarb plant plants are classify asRheumxhybridum .
Interestingly , no one love exactly how these modern culinary garden works were multiply , or their exact descent .
Two different species – R. rhabarbarumandR. rhaponticumwere grown in Europe prior to the 18th Century.1Mahr , S. ( n.d.-j).Rhubarb , Rheum rhabarbarum . Wisconsin Horticulture . Retrieved March 23 , 2023 , fromhttps://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/rhubarb-rheum-rhabarbarum/
By the other eighteenth century , these two species and a loan-blend of unknown origin – R.xhybridum , were commonly school as vegetable crop in the UK and elsewhere in northerly Europe.2Rheum hybridum ( rhubarb ) . ( 2022 , January 7 ) . CABI Compendium . retrieve August 14 , 2023 , fromhttps://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.47109
The wild plant cross well , and many cultivar have been develop .
Culinary rhubarbs share a number of characteristic with their dotty cousin , but have botanical preeminence .
masses often interrogate whether rhubarb is a fruit – and botanically speaking , it is not .
It is a veg because the part of the flora that we eat on is the foliage stalks or stems , known as a leafstalk , not a fruit.3Pettit , S. ( 2015 , March 18).Rhubarb . Hatfield Peverel Allotment Association . Retrieved March 23 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.hpaa.org.uk/index.php/vegetable-fruit-growing/275-rhubarb
However , in culinary options , pieplant is often treated like a fruit , since it is used to make fresh dishes in similar way .
Rhubarb has a inviolable , tart taste , and while the stem can also be consume raw , they are usually misrepresent and mixed with sugar or other sweetener to make pies , crumbles and other desserts or preserves .
Why Grow Rhubarb?
Rhubarb can be a useful way to enhance your homegrown fruit and vegetables .
originate perennial plants in oecumenical can be a very good estimate – they contribute a range of benefits for the garden admit :
As a perennial veg , rhubarb can be a gravid thing to grow for all of the reasons outline above – but more specifically , it can be a very utile garden works .
Young shoots emerging from rhubarb crowns.
Rhubarb provides a yield during what was historically have it away as the ‘ athirst crack ’ .
This was the sentence between winter depot run away blue , and late spring / former summer harvests.4What in reality is The Hungry Gap?(2021 , March 31 ) . The Community Farm . Retrieved March 23 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/news/what-actually-is-the-hungry-gap
So grow rhubarb means that you will have intellectual nourishment from your garden all twelvemonth – even during times when , historically , there is far less homegrown food uncommitted .
This is peculiarly true when the rhubarb plant is forced to institute forward the harvesting .
Planting Rhubarb
pieplant will do good in a sunny location , which has fertile and moist yet loose - draining case of dirt .
“ I fess up – I ’ve had to bend the rules on tad to get rhubarb to establish well , ” says Master Horticulturist Peter Lickorish .
“ I observe that in the sunniest slur , it tends to bake a little too much , whereas in fond subtlety , I find it is less probable to dry out out . Even with generous lacrimation , I ’ve bang this plant to have a nigh - quenchless thirstiness .
“ That is true of the summertime , whereas in the wintertime , sit too wet would be a problem . ”
check that you do not commit pieplant in a rime sac oran arena that becomes waterloggedin the wintertime months .
Rhubarb is ordinarily grown from crowns – dormant pieplant crowns will typically be plant between autumn and early spring .
lay the rhubarb cap so that the very top of the crown just emerges from the soil surface .
Generally speak , it is best to leave a space of around 80 cm between the plants .
Rhubarb can also be get in container , as long as they are a minimum of 50 centimeter deep and 50 cm broad .
When set , it is a good idea to tot a mulch of homemade compost or well - rot manure around the plant .
This will act as a deadening - dismission fertiliser and retain grunge moisture , but make certain you do not eat up the crown or go out mulch piled closely around it or it can rot .
you’re able to also purchase pot - grown rhubarb plant throughout the yr .
These can be implant out at any clock time , but to avoid transplant shock , it is serious to avoid plant out on very hot or dry Day in the summertime .
Companion Planting
Rhubarb works very well as one of the plant in a recurrent mature area with edible plants .
It typically grows well beside other recurrent plant – perennial Allium ( chives and elephant ail , for example ) .
pieplant also has a scent say to drive back whitefly , and so it can be a utile companion plant for extremity of the cabbage family .
This means it can exercise well in a perennial layer alongside perennial genus Brassica such as Daubenton ’s kale , tree diagram cabbage , and ewiger kohl , for illustration .
Placestrawberriesclose to rhubarb , since these will be good as ground cover .
They will open to keep dope growth down and help retain grunge moisture .
A numeral of recurrent aromatic herbs can also be good as fellow traveler plant life .
Rhubarb Plant Care
verify that the rhubarb plant gets enough water throughout the year , so the plant life keeps growing right through to fall .
Make certain that you provide water during any dry patch .
you may also consider optimise output and vigour by adding a general - purpose constitutional fertiliser in March .
Other than this , however , rhubarb really will need very little care .
You have the alternative of forcing the rhubarb , but you do not have to do so .
you may also divide a fledged plant – permit you to increase your output over clip .
It can also be a right estimate to take out the dead farewell when the plant dies back naturally in the autumn , and to discharge debris around the crown .
This will assist verify it is display to frost , which helps break sleeping and control a good craw of stalks the undermentioned twelvemonth .
“ It is a favourite of the slug universe in my garden in early spring , so using wool shot as mulch is a good idea , ” add Peter .
