Rhubarb – Rheum rhabarbarum – is sometimes a feast or famine kind of plant. It can be a great season or an ordinary one with both production and/or flavour. They both don’t always coincide and a climate with significant seasonal change from cold to warm weather I believe makes for better flavour overall.

Originally to likely be from Russia along the banks of the Volga river it is now widespread and there are lots of interesting variations in colour and growth pattern from all over the world that I have seen.

It just loves water when its growing and its a gross feeder meaning you can tip a wheelbarrow of manure on it and it will grow faster and better.

The best time to split the crown up is in Autumn in milder climates or Spring in the cold as it comes back into growth.

Leaving the flower stems on or cutting them off is a common debate subject – but I find either is ok as long as not too many per plant are left on as they obviously tend drain energy from the leaf growth. They are quite spectacular in full flower but have a weird organic scent when open.

If you can – always pick the stalks by snapping them back away from the crown. The stalks pick easily this way and it does not leave a damaged stalk to rot and cause issues – especially in warm wet weather.

You cannot eat the leaves due to build up of oxalic acid. Although some say the leaves cause issues in compost – I have never found this to be the case.

You should try baking your Rhubarb stalks!! It gives you a much better conversion of the sugars and fibre into edible form. Very tasty and a better texture than steamed or boiled…

Rhubarb pairs very well with cooked Apple in taste and texture and Feijoa especially. These three together make for a very flavoursome and fragrant mix.

Rhubarb by itself is excellent when prebaked for about 15 mins and then just laid out on a strip of flaky pastry to cook for another 10-15mins and then served with yoghurt, cream or icecream.

Good flavoured and well grown Rhubarb should not need any sugar added despite it’s tart taste. It should have enough natural sugars in it to carry the flavour.

I am growing about 10+ varieties – some are named and some just obtained or given to me by friends and other gardeners. The true greens are very hard to find, as are the true fully dark red varieties.

• Deep Red
• Crimson Red
• Glaskins Perpetual
• Green Mammoth (this one is VERY slow growing and is also very slow at creating new crown growths.)
• Mount Tamborine
• Victoria Giant
• Victorian Heritage
• Silvan Red

Check out –

rhubarbinfo.com  http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/varieties

rhubarb-central.com – http://www.rhubarb-central.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

A new rhubarb patch getting started with a few different varieties planted out in late Autumn in a very damp bed. You can see a huge variation in leaf and stalk size, shape and colour.