A Gardener’s Miscellany

This week it’s:

The qualities of rhubarb

Let’s talk about these tangy stalks

IT does not take someone with a degree in botany to see that rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum) is not a fruit. Yet it is now included in fruit lists in catalogues and books. It is eaten, 99% of the time, for dessert, although chefs now pair it with fish, such as mackerel. At one time rhubarb was used only for medicinal reasons, mainly as a laxative. It was several centuries after it was ‘discovered’ before it was eaten ‘for pleasure’! So, let’s take a closer look at this ‘fruit’.

■ Enthusiasts of companion planting use rhubarb to help their brassica crops. It is said the rhubarb deters clubroot disease and