Hi everyone, sorry to be butting in here but need a little advice. I've just bought 2 Timperley Early crowns. Just wondering though, should I just pop them straight in the ground or in pots until they have more roots? Are they happy in any type soil? I have heavy clay here so could I just mix in some multi purpose compost when I'm planting or should I go buy some manure? (My new supply of fresh horse manure is going to take a year to rot down due to the wood shavings....got that info from another post on here....this place is fab!) Where would you advise to position them? My garden is south facing and I'm starting from scratch so the rhubarb gets first dibs on best spot!
Oh, Dove, that looks delicious. Can't wait for my first harvest.
Hi Lori, Rhubarb doesn't need the best place in the garden but it does need about a meter of space if you don't want it squashing something else. I dug in lots of compost with mine when I planted them and I planted a TE this weekend. If the weather is good I'd put them in, that way they can start to get away. It's amazing how stunted things can get if you leave them in pots. You can always top dress with manure in future years. The compost will help a lot in breaking up the clay. Don't ever try to use sand to break it up. I always say, what does clay and sand make? A brick, not good soil. Sorry, you read or hear so often people suggesting to add sand since they think it's the opposite of clay. It doesn't work like that. Sorry that was a bit of a tangent.
My garden is south facing too, I've put them near the East facing hedge. That way they'll get some midday sun but I'm not taking up space of something that wants sun all day. It wouldn't suffer in full sun though at least ours didn't when I was a kid.
If you want to see varieties of rhubarb growing, then a visit to Clumber Park near Retford if you live nearby. The National Trust walled garden there has scores of different old varieties. Unfortunately they do not sell any roots.
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Sounds like Timperley Early might be on the GC list too!
Have a piece of crumble for me Dove.
Hi everyone, sorry to be butting in here but need a little advice. I've just bought 2 Timperley Early crowns. Just wondering though, should I just pop them straight in the ground or in pots until they have more roots? Are they happy in any type soil? I have heavy clay here so could I just mix in some multi purpose compost when I'm planting or should I go buy some manure? (My new supply of fresh horse manure is going to take a year to rot down due to the wood shavings....got that info from another post on here....this place is fab!) Where would you advise to position them? My garden is south facing and I'm starting from scratch so the rhubarb gets first dibs on best spot!
Oh, Dove, that looks delicious. Can't wait for my first harvest.
Hi Lori, Rhubarb doesn't need the best place in the garden but it does need about a meter of space if you don't want it squashing something else. I dug in lots of compost with mine when I planted them and I planted a TE this weekend. If the weather is good I'd put them in, that way they can start to get away. It's amazing how stunted things can get if you leave them in pots. You can always top dress with manure in future years. The compost will help a lot in breaking up the clay. Don't ever try to use sand to break it up. I always say, what does clay and sand make? A brick, not good soil.
Sorry, you read or hear so often people suggesting to add sand since they think it's the opposite of clay. It doesn't work like that. Sorry that was a bit of a tangent.
My garden is south facing too, I've put them near the East facing hedge. That way they'll get some midday sun but I'm not taking up space of something that wants sun all day. It wouldn't suffer in full sun though at least ours didn't when I was a kid.
Dig in lots of compost or preferably a bag of well-rotted farmyard manure from the garden centre, and plant them in the ground now.
Make sure they get plenty of water this summer and with any luck you can take a light crop in spring/early summer 2015
Oh, and don't worry about them too much - they come from Siberia - they're pretty tough as long as they don't dry out.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks for the advice Jim and Dove, hopefully the rain will hold off long enough for me to get them planted tomorrow.
It's possible I could harvest a little next year? That would be great, I was expecting to have to wait 2 years. Now I'm really excited
If you want to see varieties of rhubarb growing, then a visit to Clumber Park near Retford if you live nearby. The National Trust walled garden there has scores of different old varieties. Unfortunately they do not sell any roots.
By the way see http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-science/National-Plant-Collections-at-the-RHS/The-National-Plant-Collection-of-rhubarb for the RHS Wisley collection of 100 cultivars.
They mention Harlow Carr also has a collection.
100 Cultivars, wow, you never see more than a handful on offer.