Rhubarb died a death

michael brenock · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:15 pm Post subject:

walltoall, thanks for the compliments. I learned a lot about gardening from my father and I learned horticulture in the university. I had intended putting a lot more into my book about old gardening practices but it was edited out. The old gardeners knew their stuff but they did not know the scientific reasons behind the happenings. I am looking forward to another season on the forum, i suffered from withdrawal symptoms during the winter, no activity on the forum.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

johnlawrence · Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:56 pm Post subject:

Cow Sh*te is your only man !! sorted my Rhubard right out !!

Blowin · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:19 am Post subject:

Following on from Walltoall's remarks about the 50s/60s, my Dad hated gardening even though ours was huge, but we did have a large clump of rhubarb that never had anything done to it. Strangely, it always produced well.

Reading the other comments, and noting something of a British tone, we may be overlooking one quite major factor from that era. One thing Dad did impart to me was that 'a foot of snow is as good as a load of manure' and, while such things might have been a rarity in Ireland, they were a regular feature of UK winters. One only has to think of 46/47 when it snowed on Christmas Eve but didn't thaw until May.

With our colder winters, maybe that's something to look forward to?

sirpsycho · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:44 am Post subject:

Well during the winter I gave the rhubarb a good covering of rotted down horse manure. Here's what happened...

sirpsycho · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:46 am Post subject:

Maeve Drogheda · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:05 pm Post subject:

Congrats on the rhubarb it looks fantastic, so now all you have to do is eat it and enjoy.

My little bit of rhubard looks so small by comparison but is tastes just lovely

breezyacre · Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:22 pm Post subject:

Hi all. very interested in all the rhubarb, rhubarb..... I inherited rhubarb in the garden of the house that i bought in 1988. My parents told me though that though my wife's pastry was lovely that the rhubarb was very rank. I was chagrined to say the least but had to concur when next I visited them and noted that their rhubarb was much sweeter. I then divided the stools but this didn't really help. This year I put the buckets on top of the plants and it helped no end. The leaves were much smaller and the sticks were red and sweet. Just thought I'd throw that in. Am interested in Michael's story about the old gardener's allowing the stools to be frosted to prevent bolting as I have this problem every year.