Rhubarb

[Anonymous]

Has anyone successfully grown rhubarb in the DC area. Mine usually dies by August each year after several hot days. It's not looking good right now.

[Anonymous]

Rhubarb dies back everywhere by late summer. If yours is still growing and you get to harvest every spring, it’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhubarb dies back everywhere by late summer. If yours is still growing and you get to harvest every spring, it’s fine.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhubarb dies back everywhere by late summer. If yours is still growing and you get to harvest every spring, it’s fine.

Me again. I’ve been doing some non-related reading about a fruit farm in Vermont and found that after harvest, they weed their rhubarb, add compost and mulch it. It’ll still die back once the heat becomes too much for it, but you might get a higher yield next year and it might make look a little nicer for a little longer.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have had an extremely vigorous rhubarb in my garden for years. It is one of the more green than red, old-fashioned rhubarb varieties, which tend to be more vigorous. I don’t know exactly what it is because I got it from a friend.

I grow it partially shaded under a shrub. Very well drained soil due to a slightly raised bed. It was so huge this spring that I harvested it almost completely because it was shading out the lower part of the shrub. Then it grew back somewhat smaller and I partially harvested it again. It has grown back again already. I do water it when it’s not raining enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have had an extremely vigorous rhubarb in my garden for years. It is one of the more green than red, old-fashioned rhubarb varieties, which tend to be more vigorous. I don’t know exactly what it is because I got it from a friend.

I grow it partially shaded under a shrub. Very well drained soil due to a slightly raised bed. It was so huge this spring that I harvested it almost completely because it was shading out the lower part of the shrub. Then it grew back somewhat smaller and I partially harvested it again. It has grown back again already. I do water it when it’s not raining enough.

I should add that when I say partially shaded, I mean the stems are largely in the shade, but the leaves are mostly getting full sun.