Champagne Rhubarb

Description

Champagne is a popular May variety of Rhubarb with scarlet to pinkish stems nearer the leaf with a delicious sweetness. Champagne rhubarb holds together well when cooked. This variety of rhubarb is reliable and easy to grow, with good to excellent yields.

‘Champagne’ can, if you so wish, be forced or the stems can be cut as young as baby Rhubarb.

The Rhubarb is supplied as live plants or dormant crowns, depending on your preference or time of year.

Also perfect for making Rhubarb crumble, fool, pies, pancakes, stewed Rhubarb or filled cakes, served with custard, ice cream or cream, perhaps a luxury chocolate sauce drizzled over. We love to eat washed Rhubarb raw and dipped in sugar.

Luxurious eating at a fantastic price.

**Growing your own fruit and vegetables saves you money**

Depending on the time of year, Rhubarb is available as live plants, crowns, or seeds.

Caring for your new plants.

• All plants have been hardened and ready to plant in your garden or allotment.
• Plant with about 90 cm (3ft) space between each plant
• Keep watered while allowing any excess water to drain away, you do not want waterlogged roots, nor do you want the ground to dry out. ‘Champagne’ Rhubarb prefers rich, well-drained soil.
• Keep free of weeds.
• Avoid harvesting the stems during the first year, and do not ‘rip’ all the stems the following year.
• To harvest Rhubarb, grasp the stem and tear or ‘rip’ it from the plant.
• When growth dies back during autumn, generously mulch the crown with well-rotted manure or similar.
• Try to avoid planting in a frost pocket, because hard frost can damage new growth.

Ready to harvest in late May.

Its scientific name Rheum rhabarbarum.

Caring for your seeds

Sow in a seed tray or in an outdoor seed-bed. Germinates between 10 and 30° C. Sow from February-April.

If sowing in a seed tray, please remember to prick the plants out and move to a bigger pot, this allows the plant to develop growth and increase its strength before planting in the garden, veg plot or allotment.

Also, the kids love watching seeds germinate and grow.

If you don’t fancy growing the rhubarb from seed, you can always opt to buy the plants or the crowns we supply.

Images are for purely illustration only, colours may differ slightly, plant size may differ, image may show fully grown plant.
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