Rhubarb is on the rise, as you may have noticed, and not before time, too. Make sure you get a tasty cultivar in the first place, such as Cawood Delight or Stockbridge Arrow, and prepare the ground thoroughly. As with all permanent crops, search out all trace of perennial weeds. Dig thoroughly, incorporating liberal quantities of organic matter: plenty of well-rotted, straw-based horse manure, if you can get it. Whatever it is, the more, the merrier. Rhubarb is the proverbial gross feeder, a big herbaceous perennial which, dwelling in riches, rewards its owner with beauty and flavour.

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