Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: DHM on October 04, 2018, 07:54
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Mownin all.
As part of the landscaping plan for my plot I need to move a load of Rhubarb inherited from my precessor and was after a bit of advice really as I know this isnt the right time of year to do it really.
Basically there are about 15-20 'crowns' arranged in 3 or 4 clumps, many of which are really small but most have a central clam-like bud. All the leaves have died off now so only the frilly brown bits remain. I intend to keep 2 or 3 of the big ones and give the rest away but if I lift them now, will I be able to 'overwinter' them in large patio tubs (12"?) until I can rehome them/decide where mine are going or will they all die off?
Also, could I split them now as well or would the split and transplant be too much for them heading into into the colder months?
Finally, I plan to plant my two in the pumpkin bed (5f tx 11ft) with 4 or 5 Hundredweight pumpkin plants; any issues here please?
Would like some advice as I'd hate to waste them 'barbs. :lol:
Cheers, D
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It's only a little early, so shouldn't be a problem, the weather is so mixed up nowadays.
If you lift them and just leave them on the surface 'til they're replanted somewhere (even left out all winter) they don't seem to come to any harm. Splitting Rhubarb - Q&A - Allotment Garden Diary (http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden-diary/1576/splitting-rhubarb-qa/)
Rhubarb plants always seem to take up about 4ft x 4ft once grown so I think you'll struggle to grow more than 2 or 3 huge pumpkin plants, which do make a lot of growth, as well as hopefully big pumpkins :D
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Thanks mumofstig, that's reassuring. I had no idea you could leave the plants out over winter like that, but if it's good enough for the growers of Wakefield (my home city) it'll do for me!
In terms of overcowding, my planting plan is quite intensive, close planting bordering on square foot gardening. The idea with the pumpkins is that they spill over into the pathways and kind of invade, a bit of interest for the kids really. I hope to grow one giant, a couple of biggies then a couple of smaller ones for carving next halloween. It might transpire that I take the rhubarb home and plant them in the garden...
I'll whip them out this weekend then. ;)
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Thanks for asking that question. I've got some to shift too.
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I've not moved/split rhubarb that often but the times that I have I've always left the dug up crowns to get frosted before splitting and/or replanting. They've always been fine afterwards.
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In the rhubarb triangle the roots are dug up, left on the ground until they’ve had a heavy frost, then taken into the forcing sheds, once they’ve finished producing they are discarded. So I’m not so sure it’s a great idea to emulate parts of this if your aiming for a long lived plant. Normally if you force a crown you then let it rest without picking for then next 2 years & then force again on the 3rd.