Here are our top tips for our community of Dunoon Goes POP rhubarb growers.
HOW TO PLANT
1. Prepare the ground
Add fresh compost to your pot or planting hole.
2. Plant the rhubarb
Take your rhubarb crown and plant it in its new large pot or space.
3. Water it in
Give your rhubarb a good drink to settle it into its new home.
PLANTING TIP
From Brian Grout, Cowal-based rhubarb expert
“Plant in a position that drains water freely because rhubarb dislikes being waterlogged.”
HOW TO GROW
1. Water, but not too much
Keep the rhubarb roots moist, especially during dry spells, but it doesn’t like sitting in water.
2. Feed the plant
Add a fresh layer of compost or well-rotted manure and seaweed each year.
3. Don’t cover the tips
Be careful not to bury the growing tips and top of your rhubarb with compost, as they will rot.
GROWING TIP
From Martin Gerrish of Grow Food, Grow Dunoon
“Annually, in the spring, add a good layer of fresh compost around the rhubarb.”
HOW TO HARVEST
Once your new rhubarb plant has had a year to settle into its new home, you can start to harvest the stalks. Here are three tips when harvesting your rhubarb stalks.
1. Pull the stalks
To harvest a stalk, pull it off by getting a grip close to the base of the stalk. Don’t cut them!
2. Remove flowering stalks
To keep your plant producing fresh edible stalks, remove the flowering stalks as soon as they appear.
3. Freeze it
Chop and freeze what you don’t need, so you can store it for cooking at a later date.
HARVESTING TIP
From Lynne Maclagan, local gardener and POP shop community manager.
“To keep your rhubarb producing fresh stems, harvest stalks regularly through the summer.”
Don't eat the leaves, it's just the cooked stems that are edible.
More growing tips
Read more about growing rhubarb on the RHS website.
Watch this helpful video from Ben at GrowVeg on YouTube
Why rhubarb?
Why are we encouraging more people to grow rhubarb in Dunoon?
We thought that mixing heritage stories, rhubarb growing and pop-making would be the perfect recipe for Dunoon Goes POP to celebrate 150 years of Dunoon Burgh Hall.
We’re making 150 bottles of a rhubarb-flavoured commemorative pop, a drink that celebrates the Hall’s architect Robert Bryden. And we're encouraging people to grow rhubarb and learn about Dunoon's pop-making heritage.
You can read more about it here
This project is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and thanks to National Lottery players. Thanks also to Dunoon Burgh Hall, Dunoon Community Development Trust and Grow Food, Grow Dunoon for supporting the project.
A community effort
Our community rhubarb growers include The Top Shop, Dunoon Burgh Hall, Clyde Cottage Nursery, Patchwork Nursery, Dunoon Primary School, Kirn Primary School, Dunoon Foodbank, Ardnahein Care Home and around 10 or so home growers from different areas of our town. We’re also growing rhubarb in our new Dunoon Goes POP garden.
Thanks to Martin Gerrish from Grow Food, Grow Dunoon who grew a batch of our new rhubarb plants from seed. Thanks also to Abigail and George for letting us divide their large rhubarb patch into new plants!