(Rheum x hybridum ‘Timperley Early’)
This is a cultivated rhubarb with edible leaf stalks which would normally be grown in the vegetable garden as a vigorous rhizomatous perennial. Rhubarb are greedy plants and, to get the best from them, they need to be grown in a bed which has been incorporated with layers of well-rotted manure. A similar top dressing will protect the emerging crowns from late frost. However, dung brings with it a greater threat of slug and snail attacks, which will need to be controlled.
‘Timperley Early’ is a variety that should be ready for cutting and harvesting in midsummer when the leaves and stalks are juicy and mature. This is a bit earlier than most varieties are ready to harvest. You can perhaps speed up the process and increase early growth by surrounding your plants with tubes (ie old buckets or large pots with no base). This is perhaps only for the more serious rhubarb grower.
Rhubarb are perfectly hardy plants which thrive in full sun but, with their fat rhizomes, able to access moisture at all times.
