Rhubarb

We bought this rhubarb as a seedling. It should be planted in winter – it’s early summer. It also apparently likes sun – this is full shade. I’m giving it a go. The pack came with 6 seedlings, all sort of doubles, I’ve planted this in the bed built for ginger (going in next week, after the full moon). Another I’ll put in a pot so I can move it around. And the third double will go in the ground in a spot that gets about 4 hours of sun a day. The next plantings are waiting on Frank to sift another batch of compost. Boy does gardening use up the compost!

Update 19 April 2011: All of this batch of rhubarb seedlings died. One double (at the front of the ginger bed in dappled light) died, I think, of the heat. Next came the one at the back of the ginger bed (pictured here) in pretty much full shade which had been the healthiest. One day the leaves were lying on the ground and I went to investigate and could find no root crown. I suspected some critter (my bandicoot?). The last one turned up dead today. It had been small but doing okay next to the strawberry bed (some sun). Tash had used its bed as a litter tray overnight and the leaves had been dug into her pile. When I got rid of her mess and hunted for the root crown, I couldn’t find it. Unlikely the bandicoot and the neighbour’s cat would have been at the same bed on the same night. Really, I’m stumped. But today we tried to plant a more developed plant (also a double) and hope it can establish itself before the heat of summer. We’ve mulched it AND put rose branches around it to keep pests away as best we can.