You can plant or transplant Rhubarb in Spring, Summer, or Fall. Most garden centers and catalogues offer Rhubarb root-stock only in the Spring, but if your neighbor decides to share some with you in August, then it is time to plant! Nor is it too late in October, as long as the ground is not frozen. Our current bed was put in place right before a July heat spell, and it has thrived ever since.

What about planting from seeds? you ask. You could do that, but it will take several years for the plants to mature sufficiently to give you enough Rhubarb to use. Root-stock is easy to plant and yields a quicker result.

Choose a location that will get full sun, preferably with sandy soil for drainage. If your soil is too clayey, plant in a raised bed. Dig a large, deep hole — deeper than the roots are long. Put some high-Nitrogen manure [horse-with-straw, cow-with-straw, chicken-with-wood-shavings] in the hole, then pour in some water. Put the root into the ground so that the top of the root, where the leaves come out, two inches lower than soil level. Add some soil and lightly pack it around the root so it will stand up-right. Add more soil until it is just buried, then pour over it about a gallon of water. Top dress with more manure. If you have multiple roots to plant, space them 3 feet apart, only one root per hole.

If you lack space for a dedicated Rhubarb Patch, tuck it into a flower bed — Rhubarb was once used as a decorative plant in England. Just be sure that the Rhubarb has lots of room [a mature clump can be 4′ across].

The next Spring, watch to see if your babies come up. Be patient, they might be a bit sluggish the first year. Resist the urge to harvest any stalks the first year — let the plants get settled in their new home first. In the late Fall, once the leaves have died back, top dress the area with liberal amounts of manure. I use three 30-gallon barrels to feed a 16-clump garden measuring 15’x15′. Does that sound excessive? Does this explain why my Rhubarb patch is extremely lush and luxuriant? I’m lucky: our chickens keep us very well supplied with copious amounts of manure-in-shavings.

The 2nd Spring after planting, each root is getting established and you might harvest one stalk from each crown. If you have only a few stalks, make some Rhubarb-Walnut Muffins. If you have a lot, make a pie. Don’t forget to add manure in the Fall. Unless you are having a terrible drought, you do not have to water rhubarb in the Summer.

The 3rd Spring after planting, harvest at will. If a crown has three stalks, harvest one, from the outside. It will produce more. If a crown has five stalks, harvest two — again from the outside. Always leave most of the stalks on the plant — the leaves are making food and sending it to the roots to get the plant through the Winter. Each Fall, top dress with manure again.

At some point in the plant’s life, the clumps will get over-crowded. That’s when they bloom. If you want Rhubarb all Summer long, cut off the flower stalks and make a flower arrangement. Do not let the plants bloom or set seed, lest the stalks become woody and unusable.

In the Spring, before the leaves and stalks become too large, watch for the big flower buds to appear. At that point, it is fairly easy to dig out the roots that are too crowded and replant them or give them to a friend. This is why Rhubarb is called “The Neighbor Plant.”

Rhubarb plants, if well-tended, will last for decades of enjoyment.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

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