Thursday 14 May 2015

Clumber Park Rhubarb Weekend

With over 130 varieties of rhubarb to boast of it's not surprising that Clumber Park hold an annual Rhubarb Weekend in its Walled Kitchen Garden. As holders of the National Rhubarb Collection it is only right they have a proper show of their produce.
Thankfully for me all the JibberJabbers are rhubarb fans. Miss JibberJabber took particular delight in trying the all different varieties on offer. When you look at the rows of rhubarb leaves you could wonder how you can tell the difference between each variety but once they are cut the difference in the stems is obvious.
After some taste testing it was time to choose which variety we wanted to buy. It was a hard choice but we went with the Raspberry Red. It formed the basis of our traditional Sunday oaty crumble.
Outside of the famous Clumber Glasshouse it was time for some fun and games. Firstly it was up to the oche for some rhubarb darts. Despite my best efforts I scored a big, fat zero. Mr and Miss JibberJabber fared much better but I will say there was a bit of cheating going on with Master JibberJabber's technique of walking up to the board.
I decided against going round the obstacle course which formed the Egg and Rhubarb race. The Juniors though had great fun going through the hoops and jumping over the bamboo canes.
One thing I've noticed a lot this year on my travels is that many rhubarb plants have been growing flowers. They may not seem much like a flower but rather something that resembles broccoli or cauliflower. My humble advice would be to cut them off so the growing energy goes back into the rhubarb stalks.
We have Timperley Early in our garden and another domestic favourite is Victoria. One of the joys of going round the Clumber Park Walled Kitchen Garden is looking round all the different names of the rhubarb varieties. The focus of the whole garden is on growing heritage varieties for all the fruit and vegetables and when you have 130 types of rhubarb growing there's many names you won't have heard of before – Mertons Banner, Stockbridge Cropper and Isle of Ely are just a few on offer.
Just like home gardeners the team at Clumber Park have to deal with a number of pests. I've seen plenty of rabbits around the estate over the years but never one as big as this! Now, where is Mr McGregor?

Linking up with this week's guest host of How Does Your Garden Grow? at Gemma Garner.


How Does Your Garden Grow? Mammasaurus

11 comments:

  1. when i hear/see rhubarb i think of strawberry rhubarb pie. it is one of my favorites and my mother in law happens to make one of the best!

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    1. We have strawberries growing in our garden and the combination of the two sounds delicious!

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  2. I always thought rhubarb was 'okay' - I could take it or leave it. But I was recently given some fresh from the allotment and it was fantastic!! Much sweeter than anything I've ever had from the supermarket. Now I'm on the look out for good recipes for my new-found rhubarb love! Rhubarb plants I've seen at the allotment are growing flowers too - they're odd looking things!

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    1. There are so many varieties of rhubarb and I'm always surprised at how different they can taste. This year is the first year I've seen flowers on rhubarb. I've been growing at home for years but I've never had it flower.

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  3. I love rhubarb, we have a patch of it at the allotment but I don't know which variety it is. What a great event, I am rather fond of these kind of vegetable/fruit special days, it's always lovely to see the passion that people have. Rhubarb darts :)

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    1. They also have a large collection of apple trees at Clumber Park and they hold special apple weekends as well. The darts is great fun even if I was rubbish at it!

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  4. wow - 130 varieties - who knew? :) And yes, ours had a flower (or two) this year and agree to cut them off before they actually flower. I wonder why so many are flowering this year? This post is definitely rhubarb heaven! :) Hope you're well x #hdygg

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    1. I've never seen the rhubarb flowers before this year and now I've seen them all over place!

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  5. i do love rhubarb but ive never actually grown or even cooked it myself

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  6. I cannot wait for my mother in law to make her Rhubarb crumble now! I love the bamboo stick obstacle course idea.

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  7. We all adore rhubarb here and our plants are HUGE this year ...and also throwing up lots of flowers. I'm not sure why but like you, I cut them all off.

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