November gardening diary: Divide rhubarb
Separate the offspring from the mother plant and your rhubarb will repay your kindness


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The red stalks of rhubarb are deserved favourites with custard, but many domestic specimens are left slowly expanding for years in a general fog of neglect. It is, after all, a herbaceous perennial, and is readily propagated by division. Get a spade and fork and lift the whole plant out of the ground on a damp day. With the retired carving knife that resides in every shed, cut through the tissue to excise a chunk incorporating shoot and root. Replant the mother, and find a spot for the offspring in a bit of ground enriched with organic matter.
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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
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