Rhubarb is a favourite among British gardeners, with its delicious stalks and striking red and green colours.
However, it’s important to remember that while the stalks are edible, the green leaves are highly toxic if consumed. The rhubarb season in the UK runs from April to September, but it’s often advised to stop harvesting in June to avoid weakening the plant.
For those who can’t wait for their rhubarb fix, there’s a simple gardening trick to get an early taste. Julie Kendall, garden manager at the Eden Project, suggests forcing the rhubarb by covering the crowns. This method encourages the plant to grow faster and earlier than it would naturally, especially in February when most rhubarb plants have short, fat buds beginning to swell at the base of the crown.
The key to successful forcing is to block out light, enclose the plant, and raise the surrounding temperature, causing the stems to grow tall in search of light. According to the Tea Break Gardener, a gardening expert and blogger, the lack of light also reduces the oxalic acid in the stems.
“Oxalic acid gives rhubarb its sour taste, so forced rhubarb is sweeter than when left to its own devices. The result is pale pink, long, tender stems, with small leaves and a sweet, delicate flavour”, they explained.
While most seasoned gardeners may know this trick, the secret lies in using mature (two to three years old) and robust-looking rhubarb crowns alongside one crucial piece of equipment – a terracotta forcing pot, reports the Express.
These pots are nifty contraptions that shroud the plant, restricting photosynthesis and spurring an early yield to be enjoyed in the latter part of winter. You can snag these essential garden helpers from various sources – omnipresent online retailers or local garden centres.
Waitrose even tosses its hat into the ring, offering them for the reasonable price of £5.95. But if you’re not prepared to shell out on a fancy pot, never fear.
The Tea Break Gardener has a cheeky tip, saying: “I use an old chimney pot with a saucer on top, or you could use an old bin or bucket.” First thing’s first, though, before beginning the rhubarb forcing process: pull up any weeds lingering at the base of the crown and lavish it with a generous blanket of compost or well-rotted manure to pamper your crop with nutrients galore.
Then comes the big cover-up – enshroud your rhubarb crown to keep the light out by deploying your forcer of choice. Watch out for those blustery days as bins and non-terracotta alternatives have a habit of toppling over; a few strategically placed bricks ought to do the trick to avoid this.
Once you’ve got your setup in place, step back and let nature do her thing. The Allotment Haven blogger vouched that forced stems can be anything but shy; sprouting upwards in a mad dash for sunlight, they’ll generally give your forcing jar’s lid a good old tap within six to eight weeks.
The allotment expert stated: “Starved of light, the stems will be noticeably different – pale pink with much smaller, bright yellow leaves.”
When it comes to harvesting forced rhubarb, grasp the stems at the base of the crown and pull them out gently. Discard the toxic leaves in the compost heap and cook the tender pink stems.
It is beneficial to remove the forcing jar a few weeks after cropping to allow the rhubarb to recover naturally. Exposure to light will return the leaves and stems to their normal hue.
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