{"id":13968,"date":"2014-04-26T02:55:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T09:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=13968"},"modified":"2014-04-24T10:59:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T17:59:38","slug":"selecting-siting-planting-and-growing-rhubarb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/vegetables-herbs\/selecting-siting-planting-and-growing-rhubarb\/","title":{"rendered":"Selecting, Siting, Planting and Growing Rhubarb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Plan your planting of Rhubarb and prepare the ground then you will be growing crumbles and pie fillings for years.<br \/>\nSelect a variety or two, chose the growing site and care for your plants then &#8216;the jobs a good one!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Unforced Rhubarb by Cross Duck, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/18909153@N08\/6815319202\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Unforced Rhubarb\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7056\/6815319202_6740ff3410.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"335\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Varieties of Rhubarb to Select<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Victoria,<\/strong> with thin stalks of rosy red that turn pink and green towards the tip is a late season cropper.<\/li>\n<li><strong> Timperley Early<\/strong> AGM is the earliest to be harvested with long stems and a good flavour.<br \/>\n<strong> Raspberry Red<\/strong> is a mid-late season variety of deep red stalks.<\/li>\n<li><strong> Stocksbridge Arrow,<\/strong> is an old favourite in the West Riding of Yorkshire the home of there rhubarb triangle.<\/li>\n<li><strong> Champagne<\/strong> (shown above) is one of the best varieties.<\/li>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<li><strong>Fultons Strawberry Surprise<\/strong> is ideal for growing in borders or large patio containers.<\/li>\n<li>There are lots of varieties to choose from at your garden centre, specialist growers or to cadge a crown from friends or neighbours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=2283&amp;awinaffid=81944&amp;clickref=&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thompson-morgan.com\/plants1\/search.html?section=all&amp;search=rhubarb\"> Thompson &amp; Morgan<\/a> supply several varieties by mail order.<\/p>\n<h3>Get a Site for Growing Your Rhubarb<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Prepare the ground with lots of manure or good compost. The Rhubarb crowns will be heavy feeders and stay in one place for many years.<\/li>\n<li>Rhubarb likes a bit of sunshine but I must admit mine is fine in partial shade.<\/li>\n<li>&#8216;Water Rhubarb even when it is raining&#8217; is an old gardeners saying that hints at the need for water.<\/li>\n<li>Rhubarb is easy to grow from a chunk cut off from a larger clump with a spade. Ensure you have some leafy shoots and a thick healthy root.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Growing and Caring for Your Rhubarb<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Do not pick all the stems from one crown.<\/li>\n<li>Spread a thick mulch of well rotted manure around clumps to conserve moisture and provide some feed.<\/li>\n<li>Resist taking stems in the first year to allow the plants to pick up strength.<\/li>\n<li>Rhubarb crops from March to July then it should be left to put on strength for next year.<\/li>\n<li>Break off stems that look like they are hollow and are about to flower. Rhubarb needs all it&#8217;s strength to grow more stalks for you to pick.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Rhubarb Good Enough to Eat<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The stems are the only part you eat. The leaves are full of poisonous Oxalic acid.<\/li>\n<li>Rhubarb is a vegetable but despite or because of its tart flavour it is mainly eaten as a sweet with sugar.<\/li>\n<li>Rhubarb like a bit of winter frost to encourage early growth.<\/li>\n<li>Forced Rhubarb is pinker and more tender. Cover clumps with straw and a pot to keep it warm and dark. Only force the plant in alternate years to avoid weakening the crown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Rhubarb by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/6636883685\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rhubarb\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7026\/6636883685_784c1ac03f.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What can you say about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.godsowncounty.co.uk\/12\/yorkshire\/rhubarb-triangle\/&amp;sa=U&amp;ei=DJcyT5G2PIXA8QPz6sy8AQ&amp;ved=0CAQQFjAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;usg=AFQjCNEobsDaW9IoalUJweHqWE-p3qP1Ig\">Gods Own County<\/a> supplying Gods own fruit-pie-filling in the form of early forced Rhubarb?<\/p>\n<p>Most definitely your own rhubarb grown in your garden, with a bit of horse muck for added flavour, will far exceed the watery stuff you can buy at supermarkets.<br \/>\nForced in the Yorkshire Rhubarb triangle and picked by candle light you will also experience that acidic tang of this remarkable herb (not a fruit).<br \/>\n<em>Credits<br \/>\nUnforced Rhubarb by Cross Duck CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plan your planting of Rhubarb and prepare the ground then you will be growing Rhubarb good enough to eat in crumbles and pie fillings for years. Select a variety or two, chose the growing site and care for your plants, marry a cook and then &#8216;the jobs a good one!&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vegetables-herbs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}