Rhubarb Rhizomes

Uprooted last year's rhubarb - there were two of them. One was small and so it was planted in the new "extended" part of the vege patch. The other had 5 buds coming out of the rhizome so I sliced it into 5 separate buds and planted each in the new "extended" part of the vege patch. That's 6 rhubarb plants in total. Well spaced - in an effort to avoid overcrowding in that part of the patch.

To my amazement the larger rhizome was huge. I expected something the size of my hand but got something more the size of swede. A good strong kitchen knife cut through it easily enough. It was a beautiful woody colour inside. The roots I expected to be small but the larger roots coming out of the rhizome were as thick as my thumb!

Also been digging over the patch that was the left patch (but is now second from the left). This is the patch were the rhubarb was - and remnants remain. The reason they say to keep the plants 3 feet from each other is that the roots are huge and go a long way - easily a meter.

They say rhubarb is hard to kill, but of the 6 that went in I expect at least 2 to die. We'll see.