Rhubarb

[ohfook]

Just after a bit of advice. I bought a rhubarb bulb at a jumble sale earlier in the year. I'd always thought rhubarb was tricky to grow so I stuck it in a planter ate the side of the house, with a view to google how to grow it properly, then just totally forgot about it.

In what I can only attribute to the torrential rain we had through most of the summer, the thing has grown huge. It's absolutely massive. Everything I've read says don't harvest any in the first year because it'll weaken the plant, but in my mind I feel that while it's so big and leafy, it won't survive the winter.

Can any rhubarb growers confirm? Or should I be pruning it down a bit?

It's still at the side of the house, planted in an upturned filing cabinet (so not in the ground) if that's any help?

The leaves should naturally die back and it'll look like it's dead but mine has been pretty indestructible - it actually needs a bit of cold to trigger new growth. Once the leaves are dead pull them off and give it a good mulch and it should be fine.

I’d just put a upside down pot or a clump of hat over it

Rhubarb is tough and hardy and will die back to just a crown under the soil, so put the old yellow leaves on the compost heap. It will come back strongly next year. It would probably do better in the ground if you have a big spot for it. We planted a new crown last year, didn’t pull any this year and it was about a metre across.
You can put a bit of compost around the crown but not on top of it, and give it a bit of well rotted manure in the spring. The plant should last for years!

Agree with PPs, once the leaves die down, move it to a permanent place in the ground. Add decent compost to the hole and place the plant with the crown just showing at the surface. It doesn't like damp ground & can take a little shade.

My experience of rhubarb is that it’s tough as old boots!

November is a good time to move it to a permanent place in the garden. Once the leaves have died back, pop it in a permanent position and mulch it. It will look dead but it grows fresh stems in the spring.