Very cold out but there is new life.
[#]rhubarb #gardening
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@lionelb Very nice! Mine is not looking like that yet! I'm trying to force it for the first time this year. Will see how that goes
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@JimmyB @lionelb I found some rhubarb coming up. Wondered about forcing it, then promptly forgot again! Is it too late to start now?
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@lionelb @helenclayton have you gut a forcing pot? Got one on spesh last year at Trebah gardens. It’s all terracotta and Monty Don… and surprisingly didn’t break on the way home…
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@JimmyB @lionelb I don’t know…quite possible there’s one knocking about in the garden (I’m finding all sorts of things now that the foliage has died back). How tall are they?
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@lionelb @helenclayton mines about thigh height I think? I’ve no idea how they are supposed to be used tbh. I just put it over my rhubarb crown in about November hoping that might do it!
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@JimmyB @lionelb hmm don’t recall seeing anything like that but will double check.
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@lionelb @helenclayton well otherwise an old box or something might do it? I have no idea how special this forced rhubarb is sposed to be. I mean the emperor might be naked here 😀😀😀
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@JimmyB @helenclayton
A black plastic bin liner and some sticks would keep the light out.
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@lionelb @JimmyB I’ve just looked at the special pots…super fancy! I’m pretty sure I can find something knocking around in the garden this time. I’ll try and do that tomorrow lunchtime if I can.
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@helenclayton @lionelb just got the weekly email from the local auction house and was looking to see if they’ve got one as an eg - they sometimes do - but not this week.
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@JimmyB @lionelb I have just rigged up something that is so Heath Robinson my dad would have been proud 😂. I found an old iron frame - maybe a plant stand - put that over the rhubarb crowns then covered it in a double layer of bin bags. The bin bags didn’t reach to the ground though so I’ve wrapped some thick agricultural fabric (spare from log store cover) around the sides and put a bit of slate on the top for good measure 😂. Monty Don it isn’t. A couple of crowns wouldn’t fit inside either.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB
It will work a treat. The rhubarb will taste just the same.
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@lionelb @JimmyB but how long before I can take a peek?! I haven’t put any mulch down either. Should I have?
The crowns outside the ‘tent’ can be my control I guess.
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@helenclayton
They are hungry I think. If you've got anything to feed them with, I believe they respond well... And love the idea of a control!!!
@lionelb
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@JimmyB @helenclayton
My grandfather used to sprinkle chimney soot around them. I am absolutely not advocating that. Horribly toxic. But interesting.
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@lionelb @JimmyB I’ve got plenty of wood ash.
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@helenclayton
Soft fruit can use it, I think. I have added it to my gooseberries but that wouldn't be an advert...they're rubbish and the bull finches get the flowerbuds most years...
@lionelb
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@JimmyB @lionelb we have soft fruit bushes of some sort. I don’t know what yet.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb
This whole thread is fascinating to me because my rhubarb won't make an appearance for months (April) and I have no idea what the forcing is about? Longer stems?
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@IcooIey @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb Forced rhubarb is earlier, a delicate pink and far less acidic than later rhubarb. I used to use it to make a lovely tart a bit like a Bakewell but with rhubarb. My sister used forced rhubarb to make rhubarb gin. Don’t mistake me for any kind of expert though. My mum had a lovely old terracotta rhubarb forcing pot.
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@IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well @helenclayton I got one of those terracotta forcing pots last year - trying it now for the first time. Like so much in my garden I have absolutely no idea what it’s going to do…
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well I did read that you shouldn’t force it two years running, so hoping the previous owners didn’t do it last year.
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@helenclayton @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb oh! We’re all education here today! I love this: Mastodon can be ace sometimes. We’ve got a fella who clearly knows all about it, some folks who’ve sort of heard of it (I’m in that group) some ‘what is it - never heard of it’ here in this thread. And all except the first (sorry @Lionelb ) are going to learn some useful stuff!
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb great isn’t it.
So blueberries, discuss…
Just kidding, but I do know that I have blueberries! We came here in time for their harvesting.
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@helenclayton @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb only question with blueberries: are they worth it???? I eat them by the billion when I’m fishing in #Norway (they grow wild by the kilo). But in a garden?
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb these are kind of no bother, space wise. They are in a large planter alongside the house - about four bushes - and they’re in a cage to stop the birds getting at them. Quite nice to go out and pick a handful to go with a bowl of yogurt and muesli…or pancakes.
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@IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton I’ve got into ‘overnight oats’ and birscher muesli with local Swiss influences and blueberries are great there. But it feels like you have a great bit bush and get 3. That might be a bit exaggerated…
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton I’ve had great luck with raspberries, blackberries and black currents. Took a bit to get established, but all summer for the raspberries. Windberries are an Asian exotic that just comes in and can take the shade. I love them but it’s a week or so then done for the year and they are brutally thorny.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb I’ve got Japanese wineberries that look similar. Very hairy bristles on the stem. Pretty though.
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@helenclayton @IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well
I am a big fan of white currants. They are basically albino redcurrants rather than translucent blackcurrants.
They mostly lack the big redcurrant pips that stick between your teeth and they are counterintuitively quite sweet.
Blackcurrants are particularly good on heavy clay soil. White currants like redcurrants do well in light, sandy soil.
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@lionelb @IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well many years ago we rented a house with a fabulous fruit garden. It had all the currents. I remember making a fruit tart with all different types piled on top. Very pretty.
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@helenclayton
Sounds magical!
Grew up with that. Dad was a rural primary school head and the job came with a rambling old house and massive garden. Being skint, they grew lots and had an epic fruit cage. Don't think we had white currants but had the rest. Idyllic in hind sight. But space needed!
@lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
I’ve only got currents because someone brought several to the free plant exchange and I haphazardly shoved them in the ground, then moved one to the community plot 2 years ago for more sun. Last year it produced well. Will move a 2nd one this spring as the third seems well established.
It’s 3 am for me (can’t sleep and accidentally read news so filled with dread). V. glad to read about fruit filled futures.
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Tell me about hazelnuts? We have several native varieties here but I’ve not got them in my garden. Are they worth trying to establish on an edge? I think they would be a challenge here with the deer.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @helenclayton @Sarah111well
Hazel is great for wildlife and the flowers are beautiful but so tiny nobody notices. Pollination is awkward. For nut production you need a great mass of them. Strung out in a line would not be good. A pathway lined by lots of hazel on both sides could work but for an ordinary garden don't grow it for fruit.
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@lionelb @IcooIey @JimmyB @helenclayton @Sarah111well
We have two hazels in our garden (York, UK) probably getting on for ten years old now. They do produce some nuts, and we have eaten them sometimes, but they are few and small, definitely not worth it as a food crop. However, hazel is very vigorous once it gets going, so you can regularly coppice for canes etc. Generally attractive trees too.
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