Rhubarb forcing bed

It snowed lightly overnight which was accompanied by a hard frost. Despite this I decided to try and do a job at the lottie. I had decided, a little while ago, to force some Rhubarb. I also decided to increase the depth of the Rhubarb old bed behind the Asparagus bed. The manure dressing that I have been applying over the years is building up the soil level so that it spills out of the bed. I got some scaffold planks a few weeks ago and they have been stored at the lottie. I took one plank and sawed it to size, one long and two short pieces. The fourth side of the box was the side of the Asparagus bed. I banged in a couple of pegs for the corners and screwed the planks to the pegs. The top edge of the Rhubarb bed is now the same height as the Asparagus bed.

I decided that I would force the Rhubarb Timperly Early which is one of the two Rhubarbs in the newly edged bed. I had a spare black plastic compost bin which I placed over the corms. When looking round the lottie a spotted that something had been digging in my compost bins. The consensus is that it is Rats. I have not seen any of the varmints but the lottie is a good spot to winter since there is lots of food, if you are a Rat, and shelter. It visitors have burrowed in under the back of the big compost bin and in doing so kicked out the compost from the bottom of the bin. This is dead handy for me as the spoil heap from the digging is broken down, loose and it is the converted compost which has been building all year. I took the wheelbarrow and shoveled up the spoil heap and dropped into the composter, now a Rhubarb forcer. That will be a nice nutrient rich dressing for the corms. I bought a bale of straw yesterday. H said it was the accessory that no Land Rover should be without. I loosely filled the forcer with straw and put the lid on. I hope that the straw will support the slender stems of the Rhubarb as it grows not to mention that it will have some value as insulation which should add to the forcing process.

I threw a few handfuls of straw of the other corms [Victoria] in the new edged bed. The visitors had also upset the front of the manure bin next to the big compost bin with their burrowing. I took away the displaced retaining boards from the front of the bin and shoveled away the fallen muck into my barrow. This manure has been curing for months so is ready to use. The couple of barrow loads manure needed to put the manure bin in order were tipped over the Victoria and around the forcing bin. The idea is that the forced Rhubarb will come on first. The Victoria next as it has a straw and manure muffler to see it through the winter. The Rhubarb in the other bed will be last as it has no cover at all. That should give me a longer Rhubarb harvest.

Now that the manure is tidied up I replaced the retaining planks and stakes to the front of the bin. That area looks neat once again. I gave the compost bin a good forking and relayed the layers. I am sure no one is living there. It is just a larder. Since I had the drill with me I did a long over due job. I set in the steel eyes for the second vine training line. I just had to drill a pilot hole and screw in the steel eye in the timber posts along the edge of the lottie. It only took a few minutes but now a can thread the wire when I next have five minutes spare.