Whilst spring and summer might seem like the ultimate months to prepare and tend your garden, there are actually plenty of plants and crops that you can grow in the wintertime. In fact, some of them even grow better during the colder months for various reasons.
One example is Rhubarb. According to Love the Garden, “the best time to plant rhubarb is in late autumn or early winter when the plant is dormant”. Thankfully, the vegetable, which is a favourite for its tart flavour and bright colours, is one that can be easily grown, and there’s a method that will ensure your crops grow even faster and become delicious and sweet.
A gardening expert shared a video of her forcing rhubarb, which she explained is simply growing rhubarb in the dark.
Jess Gough posted the Instagram Reel on her page @happy_smallholding. She wrote: “The lack of light and slightly warmer temperatures inside the forcer encourage the rhubarb stems to shoot up rapidly in the light. Because it grows so fast, forced rhubarb is ready earlier in the season than regular rhubarb.”
Ms Gough also explained that forced rhubarb comes out sweeter as “the lack of light reduces the presence of oxalic acid,” which is the organic compound which usually makes rhubarb sour.
To force a rhubarb plant, the gardening expert said: “Place a rhubarb forcer or something similar, like an upturned bin or bucket, over the crown just as it starts to bud. Make sure the light is completely excluded.
“Check once a week and harvest when the stems are about 30cm long or reaching the top of your forcer.”
The rhubarb crown is the part of the plant which includes the root and a dormant bud.
She also noted that depending on the variety of rhubarb and where you are, the plants could still be in bud or only feature small leaves and therefore the rhubarb would still be able to be forced.
She added that “only established crowns that have been in the ground for at least one growing season” should be forced, and that gardeners should avoid forcing the same crown for two years in a row, as it can weaken the plant.
Never eat the leaves as Ms Gough warns that they are poisonous.
Comments are closed.