Abrief hot spell followed by some cool rain has made our garden leap into action.
The daffodils are finished, and the tulips are in their last days. Both should be deadheaded, but leave the leaves until they are brown and easy to remove. Their green foliage sends energy back to the bulb for next year.
In the veggie patch the rhubarb is thick and healthy, ready for its first picking.
If yours has sent up a seed head (apparently female plants do this early) cut down the seed stalk and dispose of it in your compost. You don't want the plant to put all of its energy into producing seed when you wish to harvest the stalks themselves.
The leaves may be poisonous to eat, but can be safely put in your compost.
Although the most common way to get a rhubarb plant is to buy a tuber, it is possible to raise rhubarb from seed.
When we first moved in, my mother-in-law gave me a very old package of rhubarb seeds. Thinking I had nothing but a small pot of soil to lose, I planted them and was surprised when a few weeks later, tiny rhubarb plants emerged. They did not yield any edible crop until I think the second year, but I was so delighted with my wee plants, I didn't mind waiting.
Rhubarb comes in two different colours of stalks, and most folks prefer the red, though my research has come up with the fact that they taste the same. When picking, pick only about one third of the plant at one time, giving another week or so until the plant grows some more. You don't want to totally defoliate the plant all at one time.
It is time now to go and buy your annuals and do ask the nursery owner if they have been hardened off and are ready to be planted outside. If they haven't, it is an easy process of letting them have more and more time outside until they spend a few warmer nights outside.
Then plant them and keep an eye open for their safety - I swear the slugs hear me plant them! Deb Brodie is a local gardener and a member of the Richmond Garden Club. She can be reached at debinthegarden@gmail.com
