How do I grow rhubarb, and when should I stop picking?

Rhubarb is one of the few crops that produces for decades with almost no attention, provided it gets a rich, deep, permanent position and is not overpicked in its early years.

Safety

What you'll need

• Rhubarb crown
• Well-rotted manure or compost
• Spade
• Forcing pot or bucket (optional)

Step by step

1. Choose a permanent position.Open, sunny or lightly shaded, and somewhere it can stay for fifteen years or more. Rhubarb resents being moved once established.
2. Prepare the ground deeply.Dig in plenty of well-rotted manure or compost over a wide area. Rhubarb is a gross feeder and the effort at planting pays for a decade.
3. Plant at the right depth.Autumn or early spring, with the top of the crown and its buds just at or barely below soil level. Planted too deep, the crown rots.
4. Do not pick at all in the first year.The plant needs its full leaf area to build the crown. Picking in year one produces a weak plant that never performs properly.
5. Pick lightly in year two.A few stalks only, and never more than a third of the plant at once. Full picking from year three.
6. Pull, do not cut.Hold the stalk low down and pull with a twist so it comes away cleanly at the base. A cut stump left behind rots back into the crown.
7. Stop picking by the end of June.After midsummer the plant needs its leaves to rebuild reserves for next year. Later stalks are also tougher and more acidic.
8. Remove flower spikes immediately.A thick flowering stem rising from the crown drains the plant. Cut it out at the base as soon as it appears.
9. Mulch heavily every autumn.A thick layer of well-rotted manure around but not over the crown. This is the main annual feeding and it makes a large difference.
10. Force a crown for early stalks if you want them.Cover a dormant crown with a forcing pot or a bucket in January. Pale, tender stalks in about six weeks. Force any one crown only every third year — it exhausts the plant.
11. Divide every five to ten years.Lift a dormant crown in winter and cut it into sections with at least one strong bud each. Replant the outer pieces and discard the woody centre.

Tips

• No picking at all in year one. It sets up the next fifteen years.
• Pull with a twist, never cut. A cut stump rots back into the crown.
• Stop at the end of June and mulch heavily in autumn.

Common mistakes

• Picking heavily in the first or second year — The crown is still building. Overpicking early produces a permanently weak plant that never gives a proper crop.
• Planting the crown too deep — Rhubarb crowns rot if buried. The buds should be at or barely below the surface, which looks too shallow and is correct.

If it doesn't work

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