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chives/ Rhubarb

I have a huge clump of chives and they have been flowering for a few weeks , should I cut them back when the flowers finish?

I also have a rhubarb plant which is very new and the stalks are thin can I cut them ?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,109

    I usually cut my chives right back when the flowers go over, give them a good watering and a bit of seaweed or similar feed and they shoot again quite quickly.

    If your clump of chives is huge, in the autumn dig it up and split it, it will rejuvenate it and soon each clump will double in size - it makes a pretty edging to a herb patch. This is mine.

    image

     

    Don't harvest rhubarb in it's first year - give it a good mulching with FYM spring and autumn (around not touching stems) and don't let it dry out.  This will give it a chance to develop a good root system and crown to give you rhubarb to pull next year.  

    And never 'cut' rhubarb, always pull it (a sort of twisting pull), that way it will come away from the crown without leaving a stump to go rotten. image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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