Why has my rhubarb gone mad!
wolstenholme.donna
Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
I've had a rhubarb plant for years now & it has always given me a good crop. I never feed it or anything as I have a spinal problem which means I cannot tend my garden as I should.
This year the rhubarb is enormous! The leaves are about 3 feet across, stalks are the same in height and are almost as thick as my arm! I have no idea why it's done this and if it's still safe to eat, any help please???
0
Posts
Fear not. Its probably the weather. My rhubarb has done the same thing and I am having to use a machete to get past the rampaging monster. Yours probably needs to be lifted and split before next spring......same with mine but I might just be lazy and say it is an architectural plant. No reason why it should be inedible apart from the possibility of the stalks being a bit tough (possibly).
Ours is huge too and I have 7 plants. Mild winter, cool wet spring. perfect conditions for rhubarb.
I bake a batch regularly for OH to have with ice cream and make cakes to give away or feed groups and then there's chutney, jam, freezing for autumn........
Safe to pick and eat till mid July after which levels of oxalic acid build up so best avoided by anyone with arthritic or gouty tendencies and the plants need a rest to build up energy for next year's crop anyway.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw