Grow Your Own Magazine

I planted 3 crowns of rhubarb (Champagne) last year. I dug over the soil well added some bagged manure (the stuff you get in bags from the garden centre) and also some rock phosphate - the site hasn't been worked for many years. Didn't pick any last year, just kept the area free of weeds and mulched with some manure last autumn.

This year 2 of the crowns have started flowering I have removed these.

Any ideas why this should happen? Anything I'm doing wrong? And possibly most importantly will I get any rhubarb from these this year?

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http://a-plot-too-far.blogspot.com

Rhubarb does this when mature. As long as you cut the flowers off as soon as you spot them the crop should be OK.

All the rhubarb on our site last year bolted quickly. Cut off the flower stalks as they appear.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

OK thanks. Already taken the flowers off so fingers crossed it'll all be OK.

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http://a-plot-too-far.blogspot.com

Hi, the same thing has happened to my rhubarb "Champagne" but not to "Timperley early" or "Victoria" so perhaps it is something to do with the variety.

My Rhubarb always seems to throw flower spikes in the spring. I just cut them right out and it doesn't seem to affect the crop at all.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

One of my plants tries to flower each year- started doing it the year after I bought it.
I have 3 of that variety ( the fairies have run off with the label!!) but the other 2 so far haven't tried to flower.
I'd love to let it flower to see what it looks like- it's sort of pre-historic looking as it's budding isn't it??? Think that would be the kiss of death though for the plant