still Thursday 5th April 2018
Forcing Rhubarb
Just a quick one this.
We have lots of rhubarb plants, far too much for us to use every year. This is no bad thing though, since it means the plants are not over harvested. Rhubarb is a great plant because it basically looks after itself and is just about the first to poke its head out of the ground every year.
The advantage of perennial crops is that they are ready to go every year as soon as the sun warms the soil. They give a crop way before the other plants are even ready to go outside
The other big advantage of rhubarb is that it shades out everything else, so gives a virtually maintenance free bed.
This year I decided to try something I've never done before and force my rhubarb. This involves covering over a whole crown to deprive it of light. This causes the stems to shoot upwards and to grow pale pink, giving them a more delicate flavour than the more earthy rhubarb hit of the normal stems. It also gives a crop a couple of weeks earlier.
You can buy some very nice looking terracotta rhubarb forcers for fifty quid or more, but mine are hidden away behind the compost bins in one of the less attractive parts of the plot, so something more basic was called upon to do the job - upturned black plastic dustbins. I put a tyre on top of each to prevent them being blown over by the wind. Being black, I figured the bins would help raise the temperature inside as well as depriving the stems of light and giving them shelter from the wind.
The terracotta forcers usually have a small hole in the top, maybe to give the rhubarb a small light source to reach for, but I decided to try my plastic bins without a hole. There was nothing to lose if it didn't work.
To cut to the chase, here are the results.
Forcing Rhubarb
Just a quick one this.
We have lots of rhubarb plants, far too much for us to use every year. This is no bad thing though, since it means the plants are not over harvested. Rhubarb is a great plant because it basically looks after itself and is just about the first to poke its head out of the ground every year.
The advantage of perennial crops is that they are ready to go every year as soon as the sun warms the soil. They give a crop way before the other plants are even ready to go outside
The other big advantage of rhubarb is that it shades out everything else, so gives a virtually maintenance free bed.
This year I decided to try something I've never done before and force my rhubarb. This involves covering over a whole crown to deprive it of light. This causes the stems to shoot upwards and to grow pale pink, giving them a more delicate flavour than the more earthy rhubarb hit of the normal stems. It also gives a crop a couple of weeks earlier.
You can buy some very nice looking terracotta rhubarb forcers for fifty quid or more, but mine are hidden away behind the compost bins in one of the less attractive parts of the plot, so something more basic was called upon to do the job - upturned black plastic dustbins. I put a tyre on top of each to prevent them being blown over by the wind. Being black, I figured the bins would help raise the temperature inside as well as depriving the stems of light and giving them shelter from the wind.
The terracotta forcers usually have a small hole in the top, maybe to give the rhubarb a small light source to reach for, but I decided to try my plastic bins without a hole. There was nothing to lose if it didn't work.
To cut to the chase, here are the results.
You can see the difference between the forced stems and those left to grow naturally. A very successful experiment I would conclude.
Forcing rhubarb like this does sap its energy, so I will take it easy on harvesting these two crowns any further and will choose different crowns to force next year.
Now for a rhubarb and orange crumble!
Forcing rhubarb like this does sap its energy, so I will take it easy on harvesting these two crowns any further and will choose different crowns to force next year.
Now for a rhubarb and orange crumble!
Friday 6th April
Is It Spring Yet?
Is It Spring Yet?
I know I keep going on about it, but the weather so far this year has been pretty dreadful. Winter dragged on and Spring hasn't exactly hit the ground running.
We are now behind. Maybe as much as four weeks behind. Blossom is only just starting to appear, the soil is still wet and cold and seedlings have no stimulus to get growing.
But at least yesterday's lovely weather dried out the soil just enough to try the rotavator today. And a stiff warm breeze today continued to drive the moisture of the surface.
We are now behind. Maybe as much as four weeks behind. Blossom is only just starting to appear, the soil is still wet and cold and seedlings have no stimulus to get growing.
But at least yesterday's lovely weather dried out the soil just enough to try the rotavator today. And a stiff warm breeze today continued to drive the moisture of the surface.
The sun didn't manage to appear until late afternoon, but the warm southerly breeze meant that the wet soil lifted to the top got a chance to dry out and I was able to rotavate for a second time in the evening.
Tomorrow I hope to get the new potatoes in and to plant the onion sets. Later than I would have hoped, but I'm sure everything will catch up by the end of the year.
