13-02-2025
Warning issued to anyone growing rhubarb in their garden
Rhubarb is a firm favourite amongst British gardeners to grow in their gardens. The popular plant produces an abundance of succulent stalks every year if properly tended.
Whilst its green leaves are notoriously toxic and should never be eaten, the plant's striking and edible pinky red stalks are quite the sight as it flourishes.
Rhubarb thrives from April to September in the UK, however experts frequently suggest ceasing harvest by June or only sparingly picking thereafter to preserve the plant's strength.
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For garden enthusiasts eager to indulge in rhubarb's distinctive taste a tad earlier, there is one straightforward gardening task that can hasten the process.
Julie Kendall, who oversees the gardens at Eden Project, remarked: "If you like your rhubarb sweet and tender, now is the time to try forcing it by covering the crowns."
The process aptly named 'forcing', essentially coaxes the rhubarb into sprouting sooner and more vigorously than usual. With February set as the prime month for this method, rhubarb crowns typically showcase plump buds that start expanding at their base during this period.
Achieving success in forcing involves completely blocking out light to trap the plant and elevate the surrounding temperature, prompting the stalks to soar upwards in search of illumination. Tea Break Gardener, a gardener turned blogger, notes that this absence of light also diminishes the concentration of oxalic acid in the stalks, reports the Express.
"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. It's crucial to only force mature (two to three years old), healthy-looking rhubarb crowns, and you will need one main piece of equipment, a terracotta forcing pot.
These bell-shaped pots cover the rhubarb plant, limiting photosynthesis and encouraging early growth for harvest in late winter. Forcer pots are readily available online and in most garden centres.
You can even purchase them for £5.95 from Waitrose. If you don't wish to buy a forcer, anything that can be placed over the crown to shut out the light will suffice.
The Tea Break Gardener stated: "I use an old chimney pot with a saucer on top, or you could use an old bin or bucket."
Before forcing rhubarb, remove weeds from the base of the crown and mulch with a thick layer of compost or well-rotted manure to enhance the crop's nutrients. Next, cover the rhubarb crown to exclude light using your chosen forcing jar.
Bins and non-terracotta alternatives are prone to blowing over in strong winds, but placing bricks on top will help prevent this. Leave your rhubarb to grow once the forcing jar is in place.
The Allotment Haven blogger suggested that forced stems will grow quickly; reaching for the light, they will hit the top of the forcing jar lid within six to eight weeks.
The allotment expert said: "Starved of light, the stems will be noticeably different – pale pink with much smaller, bright yellow leaves."
When it comes to harvesting forced rhubarb, gently pull stems from the base of the crown as you normally would, discard the toxic leaves on the compost heap, and cook the baby pink stems ready for eating. It is beneficial to remove the forcing jar after a few weeks of cropping to allow the rhubarb to recover naturally, and the leaves and stems will return to their normal colour once back in the light.
