How to force your rhubarb for an earlier, sweeter crop

Depriving rhubarb plants of light for several weeks forces them to grow fast and gives an earlier harvest, says Clare Wilson

By Clare Wilson

I HAVE just finished one of the few winter jobs at my allotment: preparing my rhubarb patch, including setting up one of the plants to be forced. This means covering it with a large container to make the stalks grow more quickly in search of light.

If you have the space, I highly recommend getting a few rhubarb plants as they are so easy to grow. I give mine little attention, but each spring they produce a huge crop when there isn’t much home-grown produce around. Technically, rhubarb stems are a vegetable as they are the plant’s leaf stalks, but …