Rhubarb Victoria is a 150 old variety with large, thick green stalks with some red at the bottom end of the stalks. It's easy to grow with a delicious tart flavour. Rhubarb is a perennial and stays on the same spot for a couple of years. The leaves and the stalks die back in winter, but they regrow in the early spring. Rhubarb contains a lot of iron, calcium, potassium and vitamin C. You only harvest the stalks from the plant to eat. The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous. But you can use them on the compostheap.
The somewhat tart flavour of rhubarb combines well with strawberries, almond nut, anise, ginger, lamb meat, pork, mango, oranges and vanilla. You can use rhubarb in cake, desserts, jam, fruit-compote and wine. You can also use rhubarb as vegetable or in quiche. Perennial.
Soak: 1 - 3 hours
Outdoor sowing under glass: middle of March - middle of April
Germination: 14 - 21 days
Germinationtemp.: 18 - 21 °C
Sowing depth.: ½ - 1 cm
Transplanting: middle of May - end of June
Plant distance: 50 - 100 cm
Plant position: sunny
Harvestperiod: from the 2nd year end of April - end of June
Soak the seeds in tepid water prior to sowing for approx. 1 - 3 hours. This helps to speed up the germination. Sow outdoors under glass from the middle of March. Sow in seperate pots approx. 8 cm Ø filled with moist potting soil. Sow 2 seeds approx. ½ - 1 cm deep per pot and cover them with a thin layer of soil. Keep the germination temperature as even as possible and don't let the temperature drop under 10 °C during the night. At a temperature of 18 - 21 °C the germination of the seeds takes approx. 14 - 21 days. Put the pots away at a cooler temperature of approx. 15 °C, when the seedlings emerge. Thin the seedlings, when they're approx. 7½ - 10 cm in size, to 1 strongest per pot. Harden the seedlings of when they're approx. 4 - 6 weeks old, by putting them outdoors during the day from the beginning of May for approx. 1 week. Don't let the temperature drop under 10 °C.
Put the seedlings, when they're approx. 15 - 20 cm in size, on their permanent spot. Give them a well manured spot with freedraining soil. Put rhubarb on a sunny plot and avoid heavy clay soil. Keep the young plants moist and weedfree. Plant the crown of the plant approx. 5 cm deep in the ground. Harvest a little bit of the stalks from the 2nd year after sowing. Harvest the rhubarb by pulling the stalks with the leaves. The stalk should break of with a tiny heel. Don't harvest all stalks, let a couple of stalks stay on the plant to grow on. Give the plants some blood meal and bone meal when they start growing. Mildew can be a problem for rhubarb during cold and rainy weather. Slugs and snails can be a problem for young rhubarb plants. Rhubarb is a perennial. The leaves and stalks die down in winter, but grow back next spring. Provide your rhubarb plant with a thick layer of manure or compost in the winter. Avoid the crown of the plant.
