From BZ/dpa
If you have rhubarb in your garden, you can now harvest it and bake it into a delicious cake. You want that too? Spring is a good time to plant the perennial.
Fancy rhubarb in your own garden? Here are a few tips: The plants can be planted in the garden soil in spring or autumn.
They need a location in partial shade or in the sun. The Bavarian Garden Academy recommends giving each plant one square meter of space.
The soil should be loosened deep down so that the rhubarb can spread its deep roots. It needs quite a lot of water, so a soil that doesn’t drain off too quickly is ideal. At the same time, rainwater and irrigation water should not be able to accumulate in the ground.
Divide older rhubarb bushes
If you want to harvest even more rhubarb in the future, you can simply divide an older and large perennial that is already growing in the garden in two.
The Garden Academy advises doing this in October. This gives the two plants enough time to form new roots before winter. Dividing is suitable for the vast majority of garden perennials, which sprout again every year and retreat again in late autumn after the flowering season.
Rhubarb is not a type of fruit
They are dug up and gutted with a sharp spade or knife, but carefully cut in half so as not to injure shoots. If the root network is less strong or compact, the roots can also be pulled apart. The now two plants are simply put back into the ground.
By the way, here’s some bragging rights: While rhubarb’s tart, fruity-tasting stalks are used like fruit, the plant is a vegetable. It belongs to the knotweed family and is related to buckwheat and sorrel.