Forcing Rhubarb

When those in the know at Rocket HQ suggested I grow forced rhubarb, I wasn't that keen. It sounded rather violent and not very natural. However, after a bit of a talking to, followed by a bit of reading up, I discovered that actually it's more 'encouraging' than 'forcing.' By preventing natural light from reaching the emerging rhubarb plants, they shoot upwards more quickly than normal, trying to search for light. The result, so I'm told, will be delicious tasting, bright red fruit.

Everything I've read and every conversation I've had about rhubarb tells me that it's the easiest thing to grow. Perfect for a beginner like me, then. Although you can grow rhubarb from seed, apparently year-old plants, called crowns, are the best way to do it. I'm more than happy to let someone else do the hard work for me, so I collected some ready-made crowns from the greenhouses at Rocket Gardens. These pinky-greeny fleshy blobs (I'm getting really technical here) come in 3-litre pots and just the tip of the crown pokes out the top of the soil.

Having prepared the beds last weekend, I was able to transfer the rhubarb crowns straight into the ground. I was told to choose a spot that receives plenty of sun, at which point, I got really confused- surely if they're going to be covered up to prevent them from seeing the sun, choosing a sunny spot to plant them in is, at best, slightly silly and, at worst, just teasing the poor plants? Again, I was wrong.

Rhubarb plants will harvest annually for around 10 years and it's only the first month or so of each growing season when you might want to cover them up and 'force' them. The rest of the time, the sunnier the spot, the sweeter and more fruitful the plants will be.

So, I chose the perfect sun trap spot and simply dug a hole about 30cm in depth into the bed and put in a handful of wormcast. I then emptied the contents of one of the 3-litre pots, and popped it into the hole. I then covered it all over and gave it a pat with my hand (I'm not quite sure why I pat the soil but I vaguely remember doing it whilst gardening with my Dad when I was little and old habits die hard.) Finally, I placed a bucket over the top of the newly-planted rhubarb and weighted it down with a large stone. I'd been warned that rhubarb likes to spread and so needs rather a lot of space, so I placed each plant about half a metre apart.

They'll take a month until they're ready to harvest initially and at this point I'll leave the bucket off and let the plants get some sunshine. Generally, the harvest season lasts between March and July, although this will be pushed back somewhat with the harsh Winter that we've had. Who knows, in Scotland, you may well be picking rhubarb well into August!

If you do fancy having a go at growing some forced rhubarb, Rob says there's still time to order some from us. In fact, his exact words were, "they're beauties!"

There's a scrumptious-looking Jamie Oliver recipe for rhubarb bellinis that I just can't wait to try!

I'm hoping my rhubarb turns out like this!