How to grow Rhubarb

Cut off any flower spikes as they appear. Rhubarb is a cool season plant that is easy to grow in northern areas. Warm climate gardeners may grow it as a winter annual ¹.

If you grow from seed it will take an extra year to produce stalks and will not always be true to type.

Plant or divide when plant is dormant, in early spring or fall. Soil temperature should be below 50º F.

Thrives in rich, well-drained soil. Loosen the dirt to a depth of at least 10 inches and mix in plenty of compost, well-rotted manure and a handful of fertilizer such as 5-10-10. Rhubarb plants are very heavy feeders and manure should be added to the soil every year. Plant the crown so that it’s covered with only an inch or two of soil. Allow each plant about one square meter of space.

As Rhubarb is hardy, ensure temperatures are mild enough to plant out - wait until after your last frost date to be on the safe side.

Break off the stalks at the base. Rhubarb is traditionally ‘pulled’. Cut off an throw away the poisonous leaves—it is the stalks you want. Stop using the rhubarb when the plant begins to produce spindly stalks. Always leave plenty of foliage to sustain the plant’s roots for next year’s growth. Do not harvest after a frost.

These estimates for how long Rhubarb takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.

The roots contain anthraquinones and have strong purgative properties

Indigenous to Mongolia, but widely cultivated as a vegetable

Garden rhubarb, Ruhbarb

Rheum rhabarbarum L.

¹ “Growing Rhubarb” http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetables/a/Rhubarb.htm

² Medline Plus