Oh my giddy aunt! If that's a reduction in stems, I'm going to be farming the stuff! Maybe I should have left it after all. I took about 10lbs off it before it flowered and the same again after, but before I cut the flower spike off. Still, with that amount I guess the last thing I need is rhubarb seeding all over the orchard. Mind you, the toads live in it and hibernate under it, so that probably accounts for the lack of slugs in that part of the garden
Blackie the hen and Dilly the duck are DEAD under the rhubarb! Mind you it hasn't made any difference to the rhubarb, it was forced then moved 2-3 years ago and still hasn't recovered enough to pick any stems. Maybe they don't like chook and hen fertiliser?
just a bit of topic, but my rhubarb gets little bored holes in it that bruise it, giving off a waxy substance... i think it may be bugs or ants... not quite sure.
its annoying cos i only got one crop of it, it's flowered and the spikes are too much effort to process, there ain't much left!
As I ping from tree to tree I wonder... why do I seem to have transformed into a pinging tree-dwelling thing?
Millymollymandy wrote:it was forced then moved 2-3 years ago and still hasn't recovered enough to pick any stems. Maybe they don't like chook and hen fertiliser?
They like neither forcing nor moving - need a lot of time to recover.
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I had no idea you were 'supposed' to cut off the flower stems. I've always let mine flower and they still produce leaves/stalks like mad. Mine grow all year round, too ... they're like triffids ...
If you want to be happy for a day, buy a car. If you want to be happy for a weekend, get married. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener.
Cornelian wrote: Mine grow all year round, too ... they're like triffids ...
Well - I do think your climate is slightly different to ours...
True - I am blessed by my climate for growing things here, but then I moved to Tasmania specifically for that reason. Most mainlanders think we are encased in snow the year round, but in reality we have a lovely mild climate, esp in winter. Here we are in mid-winter and my peach trees are still happily leaved. Things stop growing for a bit in the very coldest part of winter (perhaps July and August) but so long as they are protected form the occasional black frost vegies stay happily in the ground until needed.
If you want to be happy for a day, buy a car. If you want to be happy for a weekend, get married. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener.
I keep trying rhubarb and keep murdering it, bringing it up here into the desert , it's very sad Still, I just got another six crowns in the post on Friday and I'll give it another bash.