Growing Rhubarb

When growing rhubarb some feel because rhubarb is considered a perennial plant, that which survives in the same piece of ground for many years, it should be given its own secluded area in your vegetable garden, like in a corner or along one side for example, where it will not be damaged by, or interfered with, by your work on your annual crops.

Growing Rhubarb
The rhubarb plant needs well-drained, fertile soil, and the ground needs to be worked very deeply. But instead of having to dig a row or a trench you only have to make a hole for each crown.

The holes must be dug 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide, and they need to be spaced about 3 feet apart in all directions. The bottom of each hole should be filled with a 6-inch layer of manure or compost. The soil that came from the holes that you dug up needs to mixed with equal amounts of compost or manure and to which you add 1/3 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer. Fill the holes with the mixture to at least a 1 foot depth.

One rhubarb crown should be placed in each hole, in early spring, so that the top, where the plant buds are, is 3-4 inches below the soil surface. The soil needs to be tamped firmly around the roots and then you can fill each hole with topsoil mixture and compost until it is level with the surrounding soil.

When the first growth appears, and every spring thereafter as well, half a pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer needs to be spread around the shoots and scratched into the soil with a hand fork. Maintaining permanent mulch around each plant will help keep the soil moist and prevent winter frost from setting in too hard around the roots. The mulch needs to be removed before fertilizing, and it gets pushed back in place when finished.

Rhubarb plants will produce seed stalks and if they are allowed to flower, will reduce the production of edible stalks. So, the seed stalks need to be cut as soon as you see them.

After several years, rhubarb plants have a tendency to become crowded which causes the stalks to grow thinner. Now is the time to dig up the plants and divide the roots. This should be done in the spring when the new shoots are just beginning to appear, or in early in the fall. The roots can be cut into several parts, each having one to three buds. These sections should be treated as though they were new crowns, and they can be planted in another part of your garden. You need to mulch heavily if you plant these crowns in the fall.

The stalks of the rhubarb will grow to 18 inches or taller. If your plants are of mature size, you can harvest a few stalks in spring of the second year after planting. Beginning the third year after planting, harvest about half the stalks, and leave the thinner ones, which will grown and help to nourish the roots.

Harvesting rhubarb is the fun part of growing rhubarb, you need to hold the stalk near the base and twist it off. Do not eat the tops of the plant; they are mildly poisonous.