Rhubarb is one of the easiest grow with minimal care plants. My parents have always had rhubarb since I was a baby, and when I moved into my own home, rhubarb was one of those plants that I couldn’t live without. Don’t settle for those dried out stalks that you find in your grocery store, grow your own!
What variety should I buy?
There are many varieties of rhubarb available both locally and online. My personal preference is to get a root cutting from a friend who is dividing up their rhubarb patch. I have some plants that have nothing but the solid green stalk and other plants with red and green stalks. I haven’t noticed any difference in the taste and quality, but personally like the red/green variety since it adds some really nice color to my baking recipes. Also, if you get a root cutting from someone locally, you know that that particular variety will do well in your area.
When should I plant a root?
Once the soil has warmed up enough for your vegetable garden, then it’s time to plant your rhubarb. You can plant the root anytime during the summer up until the end of August. Anytime after that, you run the risk of the plant not getting established enough and dieing over the course of the winter.
Where should I plant my rhubarb?
The beauty of rhubarb is that it looks great as a landscaping plant. You don’t have to just plant it in your vegetable garden, you can add to your flower beds. Just remember that if you use a chemical weed prohibiter such as Preen on your flower beds, you may not what to plant your rhubarb there since you will be eating the stalks.
Sun or shade?
Rhubarb does well in full sun to partial shade. If you live where it gets extremely hot, you may want to consider placing the rhubarb in a more partial shade environment. Rhubarb produces well until the temperatures start to hit the high 80’s. Then the plant will start the wilt in the heat and the stalks aren’t very tasty.
How to plant your rhubarb
Honestly, dig a good size hole maybe three to four times the size of your root. Add lots of aged manure and compost and mix everything together. Plant your root two to three inches deep, right on top of the manure mix and water well. If it is a hot time when you are planting, you may want to do some mulching around the plant so the soil doesn’t dry out so quickly.
How to care for rhubarb
Once you plant your root, make sure that it gets enough water to get established. If your root has leaves, watch the leaves and water when they just start to wilt. Don’t plan on harvesting any stalks that first year since you want all the energy to go into getting the plant well established.
When to harvest
Once the stalks get about the size of your pinkie finger, you can start to harvest the stalks. Never take all of the stalks at one time though, since the plant needs some of the leaves and stalks to produce more stalks. I usually will harvest up to 2/3 of all the leaves and stalks and then just let the plant rest for a few weeks. Spring harvested stalks tend to be sweeter and more tender than later season stalks. You can either gently pull the stalks out of the ground or you can cut it level with the ground. If you use the pull method, just be careful not to pull the plant out of the ground.
Once your rhubarb plant is established, you should have very little problems. Depending on how much manure and compost that you used when you planted the rhubarb, you shouldn’t have to do all that much to the plant for probably five to ten years. You may wish to add some occassional fertilizer, whether it be a liquid or granular. You will know when you need to add some fertilizer because the plant will start producing very small stalks and it just won’t thrive like it did when you first planted it.
So what are you waiting for? Start asking your friends for a rhubarb root cutting and grow your own!
I’d love to try growing rhubarb, but we easily hit the high 90’s on a daily basis (sometimes, like yesterday, we actually get above 100!) and I’m thinking it won’t do well here. Thoughts?