September 15, 2020 - Garden and Allotment Tips and Advice

Rhubarb Flower

November 9, 2024September 15, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Rhubarb Flower

Growing rhubarb is very easy and simple it does not take much looking after apart from watering it and feeding it once a year. They also need the crowns splitting every 6-8 years which is also an easy job. You can be picking great rhubarb from the plant over the months and then you may see a rhubarb flower growing. The question is why is the rhubarb flowering? What has caused the rhubarb to flower? Here we will explain why rhubarb flowers and what to do if you notice your rhubarb flowering.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Why is my rhubarb flowering?

Rhubarb is like many other vegetables that flower they can bolt which means it will start to produce a flower on the rhubarb crown. It can also mean the rhubarb is going to seed. You have not done anything wrong when you notice the rhubarb flowering – this is completely normal – most vegetables flower so that they can reproduce and you can grow new plants from it. Sometimes rhubarb varieties can flower more times than others this can be down to the variety or few factors which lead to this.

Heat and stress are a common form causing the rhubarb to flower. If the weather is very warm in Spring time it can confuse the crown and it starts producing the flower. Stress on the plant is when the crown feels threatened so it tries producing more flowers to basically stop its extinction This can be down to if you are not watering the plant enough especially in hot weather. This should be done on a daily basis as rhubarb is made up mainly of water.

What should I do if my rhubarb flowers?

This question is totally up to you. You could save the flower on the plant and save the seeds to grow new plants which is very easy to do. The other option is to do what most gardeners do and is to to chop the flower off at the base. This is the most common method. If you leave the flower on the crown will focus on growing the rhubarb flower rather than growing the stems – it will put all its effort into reproduction.

If you do not want the seeds chop it off at the base as soon as you see it growing. You will still be able to eat the rhubarb stems but remember the rhubarb leaves are poisonous so make sure you dispose of them.

Now you know what to do if a rhubarb flowers and why it flowers. There is no need to worry you know how to fix the rhubarb issue. If you would like to know about forcing rhubarb click here.

Splitting Rhubarb

November 9, 2024September 15, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Splitting Rhubarb

All about Splitting Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a fantastic fruit to grow in the allotment or the garden as you can get great crops from it if you look after it well. Keeping it well watered when it is growing and feeding it at the beginning of the year will help you get an abundance of crops. The best thing about it is you can actually freeze rhubarb once you have cooked it so it does not take up so much space in the freezer. Here in this article we are going to explain about splitting rhubarb. We will tell you when the best time is to split rhubarb and how to split rhubarb.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Why do you need to split rhubarb?

This is a great question why would you need to split rhubarb if your plant is doing well and producing crops each year? After around 7 years if you don’t split your rhubarb it will not produce as many sticks and the root becomes old and wooden. Splitting the rhubarb root gives the plant a kick and gives it a new lease of life.

Rhubarb is very easy to look after. Lots and lots of water will help the plant gain momentum. What will you be having your rhubarb in will it crumbles, pie or even gin?

When do you split Rhubarb roots?

The most ideal time that you need to split your rhubarb is just around Spring time just before the rhubarb wakes up from it’s winter hibernation and starts producing its shoots. Do it just as the soil starts to warm back up from the wintry days and when it is manageable.

How to split rhubarb crowns

Rhubarb crowns are pretty easy to split and divide the best way is to get your self a standard spade and dig round the root. Carefully ease up the crown, the roots will go down quite far. There is every chance the roots will snap when the crown is lifted as the roots are pretty brittle.

Once you have taken the rhubarb crown out of the ground you can get your spade and spilt the crown into multiple pieces the best way is to have around 3 buds per each section. This is one way of getting more plants in the garden or allotment for free.

Once you have sorted your rhubarb sections out and split it up nicely you need to replant it straight away so that the roots do not dry out. When you replant the sliced up sections they need to be spaced far enough apart so that the clumps are not to near each other. This give the plant room to expand into new big clump.

Water the roots or crowns in well into the soil. You are best not picking from the crown in the first year let the roots take hold in the ground and let the crown settle into it’s new home. Just leave any sticks on it that grow and cut off any flowering stems.

The Spring after just as the crowns are waking back up from the winter break you can put some well rotted manure round the crowns to feed them but not not put the manure on the crown as this can rot it and kill the crown which means you have lost all the work you have put in.

You will be able to pick delicious rhubarb from your new crowns in the second year. It may take a few years for the plants to produce heavy crops but if you keep them well watered and fed you will son be giving it away and be sick of the sight of crumbles and pies.

We hope you have found these tips useful. You can find out where to purchase rhubarb crowns here if you need any. Find out how to grow rhubarb in pots here. If you want to know about how to force rhubarb you can find out our tips here.

Growing Butternut Squash for great harvests

November 9, 2024September 15, 2020 by Gardening With Ben

Growing Butternut Squash for great harvests

Growing butternut squash can be very successful if they are done right and you could be harvesting between 10 and 15 squash per plant. Butternut squash is part of the winter squash family (like pumpkins) You need to wait until the rind has hardened before picking. Butternut squash grows into a great looking and colour squash. This is a popular squash to try growing in the garden or allotment. Will you be trying to grow butternut squash this year?

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

Purchase Butternut Squash Seeds

Are you looking at growing butternut squash. Below is a link to Amazon where you can buy the seeds directly through them where it is safe and secure.

When to sow, plant and harvest butternut squash

Knowing when to sow, plant and harvest butternut squash are important. You need to get the timings right when growing squash so you have the most time for these to start growing. Below you can find a table of all the butternut squash information:-

Sow	April to June
Plant	May to June
Harvest	August to October

How to sow butternut squash seeds

When sowing butternut squash seeds you need to think about how long it takes from sowing the seed to harvesting the squash off the plants. It takes around 120 days from planting the seed to harvesting butternut squash so the ideal place to start your seeds is indoors and not outdoors as this will reduce the time you can grow them. If you are growing outdoors you won’t be able to plant the seeds util the chance of frost has passed as this will kill the seedlings and plants off.

To sow your butternut squash seeds indoors the best plan is to plant one seed per small plant pot rather than in seed trays as you will only have to transplant them when they get bigger, this saves chance of upsetting the plants and damaging the roots.

Plant one seed per plant pot but make sure the seed is on it’s side when you sow the seed. Water the plant pot to kick off the germination then you can cover the plant pot with cling film this will keep the plant pot warm and moist. Put the plant pot somewhere warm in a greenhouse that has plenty of light.

How to transplant butternut squash plants

When planting out butternut squash you need to think about how much space you need. Butternut squash vines can reach at least 15ft in total.

You don’t want to plant outdoors till after the chance of frost has passed. This is usually the end of May beginning of June.

Choose a piece of ground that you have cleared, weeded and added some well rotted organic matter too.

You can now plant the butternut squash around 2 meters apart in total. This is so they are not too clustered and can breathe easy.

How to look after Butternut Squash Plants

To look after your butternut squash it is pretty easy all you need to do is keep them weed free, feed them well and keep them watered to help them swell.

How to Harvest Butternut Squash

When you are harvesting butternut squash make sure you harvest them before the first frost comes as this can cause the fruit to rot. Pick them when you are ready to use them but leave them on the vine as long as possible.

Click to purchase Butternut Squash Seeds

Do you fancy trying to grow Spaghetti Squash? Find out all our tips and advice here.