Time for removal and renewal

years will ensure the crowns below are strong enough to allow for plentiful picking.

I’ve been growing rhubarb in two very large planters for a few years after scoring a few crowns from my mum’s 50-year-old redstemmed variety when she was dividing them and they’ve been happy in their new home here in Auckland. I keep mine well fed with regular applications of sheep pellets, fertiliser and castings and worm tea from my worm farm and keep the crowns mulched in summer (but not covering them completely in order to avoid rot).

Rhubarb is best planted during the cooler months of spring and autumn as it can struggle to establish in the heat of summer. If you don’t have access to crowns, your local garden centre will usually have single plants for sale or order a bundle of four plants online from Awapuni.co.nz.

Choose a sunny spot with welldrained, fertile soil, plant crowns 3-5cm deep and give them plenty of space to spread out. Rhubarb is a very large plant so it’s best given its own patch to grow in or at the very least, placed at the back of your garden so it’s out of the way.

Resist the urge to harvest any stalks during that first year. To pick, gently pull and twist the outer stalks rather than cutting or snapping them off which can lead to fungal problems. before spring. Many green crops are also legumes (such as blue lupins, red clover, broad beans and peas), which fix nitrogen in the soil once they die. This nitrogen then becomes available for your vege crops to use. The broken-down plant material also improves the structure of the soil in your garden and while the crops are growing, help to suppress weeds and protect the soil from erosion during wet winters.