At the beginning of April, rhubarb is one of the first plants to herald the harvest season. Until then, the fruity and sour vegetables had hardly required any care. Nor does it intend to begin now. The season is so short anyway.

Smooth rods give the signal for the start of the season

Of course, there is no fixed date for the start of the rhubarb season. In this regard, the weather has a say. When the coveted rhubarb stalks are no longer wavy, but nice and smooth, the harvest can begin.

Why is rhubarb only in season for three months?

The start-up time for rhubarb until the first harvest is one to two years. Once the plant has established itself in the bed, it puts on the botanical turbo. After a problem-free hibernation, rhubarb presents harvest-ready stalks from April.

From now on it's going to be fast. Anyone who has planted enough rhubarb can now harvest without interruption until June 24th, St. John's Day. On this date the harvest ends for the following reasons:

  • the plant should regenerate sufficiently by winter
  • stalks harvested later contain a higher dose of oxalic acid, which is not good for everyone

After the seventh season it's over

A healthy rhubarb plant usually has vigor for eight to ten years. Experienced hobby gardeners do not exhaust this period to the full. Wisely, they are now dividing the cane and replanting the segments elsewhere.

A crop rotation of five years is mandatory for rhubarb. It should not be cultivated in a bed that already contained its genus for so long. However, if the rhubarb mosaic disease occurs during a season, the break in cultivation is seven years.

tips and tricks

Anyone who ends the first season in the second year in mid-May will be rewarded for this prudent conservation of the rhubarb. The plant, which is still growing, can recover longer and develop a stable vitality for many bountiful harvests.

GTH

Category:

Vegetable garden