# Rhubarb raised bed.



## postman (28 Apr 2021)

Just finished a little gardening job.We have built a little raised bed,six foot x five foot and only four inches deep.Over the past few months I have been opening up the area with spade and fork.It has a good fork length depth. Today the frame went over it and three bags of compost and two bags of manure have gone in,we will put some of our very own compost over the top in a couple of weeks.It has filled an empty dry space it looks great.The rhubarb is in pots at the bottom of the garden just waiting for it's new home.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (28 Apr 2021)

There is only one animal that eats rhubarb.


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## Tail End Charlie (28 Apr 2021)

You'll be forcing rhubarb next. I love doing it (although I don't have any at the moment, having given up my allotment) as it is incredibly sweet.
Mmmm rhubarb with a splash of Pernod and a crumble with white chocolate pieces.


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## Bazzer (28 Apr 2021)

Hmm rhubard.... Crumble, wine, or fresh out of the ground.
I have three plants in the garden.


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## numbnuts (28 Apr 2021)

Rhubard  I was forced fed it as a child ...........talk about child abuse


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## Darius_Jedburgh (28 Apr 2021)

A stick of rhubarb and a bag of sugar. Memories of childhood. 
But don't eat the leaves 👎👎👎


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## rualexander (28 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> A stick of rhubarb and a bag of sugar. Memories of childhood.
> But don't eat the leaves 👎👎👎


Sugar?
We never had sugar!


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## Darius_Jedburgh (28 Apr 2021)

rualexander said:


> Sugar?
> We never had sugar!


Oh dear. Here we go. 
Shoes? We never had shoes. Walked to work in the snow with no shoes. 

(Next please with the Monty Python routine!!!)


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## Justified_Sinner (28 Apr 2021)

Tail End Charlie said:


> You'll be forcing rhubarb next. I love doing it (although I don't have any at the moment, having given up my allotment) as it is incredibly sweet.
> Mmmm rhubarb with a splash of Pernod and a crumble with white chocolate pieces.
> View attachment 586242


THAT is an impressive crop!


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## numbnuts (28 Apr 2021)

We had shoes and bloody rhubarb


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## Justified_Sinner (28 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> There is only one animal that eats rhubarb.



Two. Slugs seem to like it, too.


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## fossyant (28 Apr 2021)

We get two crops at least each year. Wife puts most in gin. Very nice


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## Archie_tect (28 Apr 2021)

We have 3 rhubarb crowns- two have sprouted- one appears to be dormant. Love rhubarb!


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## jowwy (28 Apr 2021)




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## Darius_Jedburgh (28 Apr 2021)

Justified_Sinner said:


> Two. Slugs seem to like it, too.


Slugs are invertebrates.


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## pawl (28 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> A stick of rhubarb and a bag of sugar. Memories of childhood.
> But don't eat the leaves 👎👎👎




How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root


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## Profpointy (28 Apr 2021)

Rhubarb crumble - yum yum ! Not much left from today's pudding







and in a month or so, rhubarb gin


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## Darius_Jedburgh (28 Apr 2021)

That's interesting. It's the oxallic acid that makes them inedible.

Round here the farmers net turnip and swedes to prevent attacks by cabbage rootfly, but they don't net cabbages. I dont understand that unless they can spray cabbages but not root crops.


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## Profpointy (28 Apr 2021)

pawl said:


> How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root


 
Oxalic acid is proper poisonous. In school we were warned against mouth-pipetting it in chemistry as someone in the year before us had had to go to hospital to get their stomach pumped. 

Don't suppose they mouth-pipette anything these days, and even back in my day we tended to use the rubber sucker bulbs for anything too dangerous


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## Tail End Charlie (28 Apr 2021)

pawl said:


> How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root


I don't know about that, but I know my chickens used to eat rhubarb leaves, they're some sort of emetic for them.


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## rualexander (28 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> Slugs are invertebrates.


Invertebrates are animals


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## weareHKR (29 Apr 2021)

Whoooo... I do love a Rhubarb Crumble... Unfortunately, no one does in our house so rarely have!


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## PaulSB (29 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> That's interesting. It's the oxallic acid that makes them inedible.
> 
> Round here the farmers net turnip and swedes to prevent attacks by cabbage rootfly, but they don't net cabbages. I dont understand that unless they can spray cabbages but not root crops.


I'm guessing with this. Once a cabbage crop is established the larger root system may be less susceptible, that is it can recover, to attack. Clearly it's the cabbage which is harvested so minor or recoverable attacks may not be of economic importance. Swedes and turnips are root vegetables so if attacked by a root fly the crop is ruined.

Saying this I've never seen turnips and swedes netted but often do see cabbage established under fleece after transplanting.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (29 Apr 2021)

We are on the moss where vast acres are farmed. Every year swedes and turnips are netted until harvest. Yes, cabbage are netted after transplant but the nets are soon removed. 

No brassicas - cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower etc. are netted long term and as you say this could be because the roots are not the cash crop. 

What I haven't been able to get to the bottom of is farmers killing potato tops. Why? The herbicides they use would normally travel down to the roots meaning that the tubers are inedible. But it doesn't seem to work like that. Why do they kill the tops and why are the tubers unaffected?

As an aside...there are vast acres of crops that have not been harvested and are being ploughed back in. Presumably the lack of catering and hospitality venues means the food just isn't wanted. A real shame, especially if the farmers are not being paid.


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## Profpointy (29 Apr 2021)

weareHKR said:


> Whoooo... I do love a Rhubarb Crumble... Unfortunately, no one does in our house so rarely have!



That makes no sense. If no one else likes crumble that's more for you !

Seriously though, it is a the easiest thing in the world to make


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## PaulSB (29 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> We are on the moss where vast acres are farmed. Every year swedes and turnips are netted until harvest. Yes, cabbage are netted after transplant but the nets are soon removed.
> 
> No brassicas - cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower etc. are netted long term and as you say this could be because the roots are not the cash crop.
> 
> ...


When you say the moss I'm right in thinking you mean what I'd refer to as the Lancashire mosses - Tarleton, Banks, Burscough etc?

The potatoes are being sprayed off, probably with glyphosate, to aid or ease harvesting. Two points here. First killing off the top growth simply clears the soil so machinery can easily pass over. The second could be to control growth for one of two reasons - the tubers have reached the required size or there is no market. Either way the tubers will stop developing/increasing in size.

The tubers are unaffected because glyphosate is a contact herbicide. There are five types of herbicide, contact, residual, selective, non-selective and systemic. Contact herbicides basically kill whatever they land on. Systemic herbicides are absorbed by the plant and attack all areas from within. Residual sit in the soil for months. While selective and non-selective either target specific plant types - broadleaf weeds for example - or kill everything in sight!!

There is evidence glyphosate used in this manner is allowing it to enter the food chain.


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## neil_merseyside (30 Apr 2021)

I thought they burnt the tops off spuds with acid?


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## steve292 (30 Apr 2021)

if you take the top growth off the spuds, it makes them less vulnerable to blight as well


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

PaulSB said:


> When you say the moss I'm right in thinking you mean what I'd refer to as the Lancashire mosses - Tarleton, Banks, Burscough etc?
> 
> The potatoes are being sprayed off, probably with glyphosate, to aid or ease harvesting. Two points here. First killing off the top growth simply clears the soil so machinery can easily pass over. The second could be to control growth for one of two reasons - the tubers have reached the required size or there is no market. Either way the tubers will stop developing/increasing in size.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that. 
Yes just south of Southport. My normal roads are inland as far as M6, north to Hesketh Bank and south to Skem. Pan flar and always blowing a hoolie. 
It Is interesting watching the fields ebb and flow with the seasons. Lots of free veg by the roadside that has fallen from the trailers 🙂


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## PaulSB (30 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> Thanks for that.
> Yes just south of Southport. My normal roads are inland as far as M6, north to Hesketh Bank and south to Skem. Pan flar and always blowing a hoolie.
> It Is interesting watching the fields ebb and flow with the seasons. Lots of free veg by the roadside that has fallen from the trailers 🙂


Oh and when it's blowing a south-westerly if we ride out that way it's headwind out and back!


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

Staying at Southport a couple of years ago I had a walk to Hesketh bank. wondered what all the meshed over rows were. The ones i looked at were, I thought, spring greens. Presumably to stop the cabbage white.


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## PK99 (30 Apr 2021)

PaulSB said:


> When you say the moss I'm right in thinking you mean what I'd refer to as the Lancashire mosses - Tarleton, Banks, Burscough etc?
> 
> The potatoes are being sprayed off, probably with glyphosate, to aid or ease harvesting. Two points here. First killing off the top growth simply clears the soil so machinery can easily pass over. The second could be to control growth for one of two reasons - the tubers have reached the required size or there is no market. Either way the tubers will stop developing/increasing in size.
> 
> ...



Eh?

Glyphosate is a SYSTEMIC herbicide.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

I can't work out how my circular rides are always into the wind. The winds blow in here uninterrupted from USA. It's sometimes a relief to go to Rivington and hills, at least there is some shelter. 

Speaking of which we shall be past your front door tomorrow morning. What time is coffee?


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

PK99 said:


> Eh?
> 
> Glyphosate is a SYSTEMIC herbicide.


Thanks. I thought that, but didn't want to show my ignorance.


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

It was always Sulphuric acid to burn off the tops but I think that got banned and they switched to Diquat which is a contact herbicide.


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## PK99 (30 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> Thanks. I thought that, but didn't want to show my ignorance.





OldShep said:


> It was always Sulphuric acid to burn off the tops but I think that got banned and they switched to Diquat which is a contact herbicide.



That too is now banned IIRC.

For general info..
purpose of burning off the tops of root crops is generally to facilitate mechanical harvesting


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## PaulSB (30 Apr 2021)

PK99 said:


> Eh?
> 
> Glyphosate is a SYSTEMIC herbicide.


Yes, you're quite right. For some bizarre reason, and I can't think why, I had Paraquat, Gramoxone, in mind when I wrote the above. A product one would not want to be close to.

Can't explain it, I just did. Must be an age thing!


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

PK99 said:


> That too is now banned IIRC.
> 
> For general info..
> purpose of burning off the tops of root crops is generally to facilitate mechanical harvesting


Also helps to control blight and aids in storage of the tubers.


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## midlife (30 Apr 2021)

When I was a lad they stored potatoes in clamps next to the fields, do they still do that?


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

midlife said:


> When I was a lad they stored potatoes in clamps next to the fields, do they still do that?


Specialised air conditioned sheds and quilts for em now. Them tattie don’t know they’re born today. 
Ive never field clamped spuds it was always swedes or mangold wurzels.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

midlife said:


> When I was a lad they stored potatoes in clamps next to the fields, do they still do that?


Not round here. Lift and away. 
About the only thing stored in fields are sugar beet and that is grown as winter fodder. Other areas may differ.


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> sugar beet and that is grown as winter fodder


Are you sure? That’s a new one for me.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

OldShep said:


> Are you sure? That’s a new one for me.


Well it looks like sugar beet, but I've never tasted it! They feed it to sheep that they put on the fields in winter. It is stored between rows of hay bales.
They also feed the sheep reject cabbage leaves. Presumably the sheep are there to enrich the soil. They disappear in spring, after lambs have grown. Then the arable/cereal crops go in.


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## OldShep (30 Apr 2021)

If they are coming out of a clamp in the spring might they be mangolds? Swedes are usually folded but can be clamped. 
Hay? Are you sure it’s not straw?


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## Darius_Jedburgh (30 Apr 2021)

Ok. Could be straw and could be mangolds. I never go in the fields to check🙂


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## Justified_Sinner (4 May 2021)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> Slugs are invertebrates.



Indeed. I will not be so generic again!


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