How to Grow Victoria Rhubarb

Planting Victoria Rhubarb

Victoria Rhubarb is a cool season vegetable in the Polygonaceae family. Getting the timing right is the difference between a strong stand and a disappointing one, so the windows below are given relative to your own last spring frost and first fall frost rather than a generic calendar date. Look up your local frost dates and count back or forward from there.

Transplant young plants outdoors 2–4 weeks before your last frost — Victoria Rhubarb tolerates cool conditions and benefits from an early start.

Spacing and Planting Depth

Give Victoria Rhubarb room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.

Days to Maturity

Victoria Rhubarb reaches maturity in 365–730 days from sowing.

Victoria Rhubarb is ready to harvest after about 548 days. Harvest before summer heat or, for fall crops, before a hard freeze, to keep quality high.

Conditions and Care

As a cool-season vegetable, Victoria Rhubarb does its best growing in the cooler weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. It is frost hardy and can shrug off light freezes, so it can stay in the ground later into the season than tender crops.

Victoria Rhubarb needs full sun — give it at least six hours of direct light a day for the best growth and flavor. Sow seed about 2 inches deep, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.

Victoria Rhubarb belongs to the Polygonaceae family; rotating where you grow members of this family each year helps limit the build-up of soil-borne pests and disease. Victoria Rhubarb is generally grown as a single planting each season rather than succession sown.

Companion Plants

Pairing Victoria Rhubarb with the right neighbors can improve growth and deter pests; a few combinations are best avoided.

Grows well with: Cabbage, Broccoli

Growing Notes

Common green-stalked rhubarb cultivar; crowns.

Sources

• UMN Extension