Why growing rhubarb is on the rise….tips & tricks!

Tart, tangy, and tasty, rhubarb is a winner.

For the first time, I’m planting it so I can make pies, tarts, crumbles, and jams. Rhubarb is wildly popular in my family!

The best part? It freezes like a dream. Pluck, wash, and chop, then freeze in a Ziploc bag, convenient when you need to whip up a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

While my favorite roadside stand sells rhubarb for the incredible price of $3 a bunch, he sells out quickly, usually to my sister!

It was time to grow my own to have it on hand for recipes. Nothing could be easier to plant than rhubarb, which can be done in spring or now in fall.

Here’s what I learned to speed up your success when planting rhubarb!

Planting rhubarb – where to get

Rhubarb isn’t the crop one would attempt to grow from seed, so you need to find bunches to plant. Finding the right rhubarb to plant is the goal.

I quickly discovered that few garden centers sell it, so it was tricky to obtain. Look for 1-year-old rhubarb crowns to plant.

Plants will be sold as bare-rooted specimens or young plants already growing in pots, ready to transplant. I paid $4 for a four-inch pot. The plants were of a decent size.

If you strike out at all the local garden nurseries and farmers’ markets, Facebook Marketplace might be your best bet for finding rhubabr to plant.

Many home gardeners grow rhubarb and have extra to spare. Most of these folks aren’t trying to make a profit; it’s more about sharing their abundance. Clumps sell for $2-$5 each.

The downside is that the Facebook Marketplace seller may or may not live close to you. Keep your eyes peeled, and it’s likely a good lead will pop up. It may take a few weeks

Tip: Fall rhubarb planting will promote strong growth in spring due to the domancy period.

Planting rhubarb considerations…

Space. Your number one consideration when planting rhubarb is spacing. Because the plant not only gets humongous, but lives many, many years, make sure you give it adequate spacing.

One rhubarb plant can reach over 3 feet in height and width!

So give each plant a minimum of a 3-foot by 3-foot area and space plants 3 to 4 feet apart. This will prevent overcrowding, helping the plant thrive while increasing yields.

Rhubarb plants are heavy feeders, so amend the soil with compost and well-rotted manure. Find a location with at least 6-8 hours of bright, unobstructed sunlight with well-draining soil.

I decided to plant my rhubarb in the same area as my blueberries, as both require direct sun. Rhubarb and blueberries are great companion plants; they both like space and acidic soil.

When I’m adding my yearly sphagnum peat moss elemental sulfur into the soil for my blueberries, I sprinkle some onto the rhubarb plants.

I even add a few pine needles from my border pine trees to acidify the soil naturally. When time allows, fish fertilizer is used.

Tip: Planting rhubarb in the fall allows the roots to get established in the soil before that first hard frost!

10 things I bet you didn’t know about rhubarb!

1.) Humans have been using rhubarb for centuries. Before it became food, rhubarb was highly valued for its medicinal properties, costing more than gold!

2.) While the stalks are tart, they can also be used to make paper, showcasing the plant’s versatility. 

3.) The large, leafy-green leaves of the rhubarb plant are poisonous because they contain high levels of oxalic acid, a compound also found in ink and metal polish.

4.) The word “rhubarb” can also mean “a heated argument or dispute,” according to Merriam-Webster.

5.) The redder the stalk, the sweeter the flavor. But both green and red stalks are fine to cook with!

6.) Rhubarb is a member of the same family as buckwheat and Swiss chard.

7.) Rhubarb is cold-hardy. It will grow in climates as cold as USDA zone 2 and thrives in Alaska and Siberia.

8.) Raw rhubarb is quite sour, just as tart as lemon.

9.) Rhubarb is healthy! High in fiber and also an excellent source of calcium and vitamin K.

10.) Despite its origins in Asia, today rhubarb can be found all over the world.

Harvesting rhubarb

It’s tough, but don’t do it. Don’t harvest rhubarb your first year unless you are growing it as an annual.

Let it grow and build up energy in the first year. Even in year two, it’s a good idea to only harvest two stalks per plant, leaving the rest of the plant to carry out photosynthesis.

By year three, you can start seriously harvesting rhubarb stalks, but leave at least five large leaves/stalks.

Instead of using pruners or scissors to harvest rhubarb, I simply pull and twist the individual stalk from the base of the plant. This tactic helps to prevent disease and encourages new growth.

Look for stalks that are straight and firm, typically a foot in length. After year three, it’s okay to harvest all but 1/3 of the plant’s stalks.

Get rid of those toxic leaves, not even composting them, but chucking them into the garbage. Since I have both cats and dogs, I don’t want to risk those toxic leaves getting them sick.

Tip: Fall planting of rhubarb is ideal due to cooler temperatures and a dormancy period rhubarb requires to thrive. This helps the plant survive the winter and produce abundant stalks the following season. 

Rhubarb – fruit or vegetable?

Quiz today: Is rhubarb a fruit or a vegetable?

Drum roll, please…it’s a vegetable! Although I’d wager many of us think of it as a fruit.

But the confusion is justified: in 1947, the USDA classified it as a fruit because the tariffs on bringing fruits into the country were lower on fruits than vegetables.

So rhubarb is a vegetable that we use as a fruit. Maybe this is why we combine it with strawberries to make pie. The strawberry adds the sweet element, even though I still add raw sugar to my pie filling.

Rhubarb is one long-lived perennial vegetable.

A plant can live for 60 years or more. However, it commonly begins to decline after 20 years, sometimes even after 10 years.

If you notice a decline, try dividing it, then replanting in a new spot in compost-enriched, well-drained soil in full sun. This process will give it a new chance to thrive.

Rhubarb pests after planting rhubarb

Another reason I grow my rhubarb with my blueberries is that the area is fenced in.

While I’ve dealt with slugs, snails, aphids, beetles, and looper caterpillars, I find the biggest pests are animals like deer, rabbits, raccoons, and possums.

I’ve even seen the numerous squirrels in the yard nibble the rhubarb when desperate. Never again would I plant rhubarb without the protection of a 4-foot fence!

Nothing worse than waking up in the morning, basket in hand, anticipating a big rhubarb haul only to find it has already been “harvested.”

Big, bold plants chomped down to nothing by the neighborhood deer and rabbits. And once the animal population knows it’s there, there’s no going back. They’ll be back year after year.

Since beetles and other insects leave holes in the leaves that we don’t eat, not the stalks, I never bother to spray any sort of pesticide on my plants.

Freezing rhubarb for the future!

Almost nothing freezes more easily than rhubarb. Perfect out of season when it’s so expensive to buy at a grocery store.

And that’s if you can find it in winter. Unlikely!

So chopping up rhubarb when you’ve grown your own or purchased it cheaply at a roadside stand makes a ton of sense. Plenty of rhubarb in winter for jams, pies, and tarts.

Rhubarb tends to be a muddy crop. I’ve even seen bugs stuck to mine in the inner stalk. So I wash it thoroughly before chopping it up to freeze.

I lay it on a kitchen towel for a few hours before freezing. This is because if it’s too wet, the chunks all stick together in the freezer.

While it’s not difficult to break up the clumps like berries, it’s still easier to prevent the pieces from sticking together in the first place.

What do you use rhubarb for? Are there any different types of flowers you use for fall decor?