Claire Mummery: Growing rhubarb – the cost-effective vegetable that keeps on giving

Rhubarb is easy to grow and is the hero ingredient in a variety of delicious dishes. Photo / 123RF

If you give your rhubarb a good start it will reward you for years to come, writes gardening expert Claire Mummery.

Rhubarb is one of those fabulous plants that every garden could have. Once you have a healthy, established plant, it will be with you for life. If you need to move house, you can easily take a root division with you. It’s like a part of the family.

Rhubarb always brings back fond childhood memories of enjoying delicious desserts at my Grandma’s dining table, from rhubarb and apple pie and rhubarb fool, to warm rhubarb crumble and custard. In my late teen years, I even learned how to make rhubarb wine, which had a beautiful colour and a delicious flavour.

Rhubarb is truly such a versatile plant. It is important to remember that you can’t eat the rhubarb leaves - but they do have their uses. Did you know that rhubarb leaves work exceptionally well to remove burnt-on food in the bottom of cooking pots? Just put a rhubarb leaf and a teaspoon of baking soda in a burnt pot, add water and simmer for half an hour and voila, the burnt food miraculously lifts right off the pot.

How to grow rhubarb for the first time

My best advice to get started with rhubarb? Ask a friend for a root division of their rhubarb plant in winter. Take it home and put it in a prepared hole of well-rotted compost or manure. Rhubarb is a hungry plant and will love you forever for giving it the best start in life, so the more manure the better. Cow, sheep or chook manure is perfect.

Bokashi is another great fertiliser for rhubarb, remembering to leave it a week in the soil before putting in your plant. Make sure your prepared hole is 3-4 times the size of the plant, which will allow enough room for plenty of manure. Add a small layer of soil on top of your manure and water well.

Where to plant rhubarb for best results

Rhubarb likes a sunny spot, albeit not too sunny in the summer. If you have an area that just gets morning sun in summer, that will be perfect. Watering is essential over the summer months to prevent the plant wilting.

How to give rhubarb the best start in your garden

Please don’t harvest your rhubarb until the second year. This will give the root time to establish itself, to become strong and start to multiply. Patience is key to giving your rhubarb everything it needs for a lifetime of delicious success. Harvest just a few stems from year two, and by year three, you can harvest as much as you like as the plant will be fully established. When harvesting the stems, it is better to turn and twist from the bottom to get them off, as the ends have little spoons on them and when pulled off, this stimulates the plants to produce more.

When established, your plant will throw off a seed head each year, which is best cut off when formed, to keep the energy going into the plant rather than the seeds.

Give your plant a good side-dressing of compost in autumn/winter every year and a nice thick mulch before the summer kicks in, to keep the roots cool and moist. Remember to divert mulch away from the centre of the plant or you risk root rot or providing pests and diseases their own wee microclimate to thrive in.

I hope you get as much joy from growing rhubarb in your garden as I do in mine.

For more gardening advice, visit growinspired.co.nz and discover Claire Mummery’s online gardening course at www.growinspiredacademy.com