One thing is doing well

Ta, I was bowled over, first time i'd entered a show

Don't think its just the wood ash, theres a lot of old lime mortar in the soil there, from the building works. Might be that it likes.

 

You should be able to make a first prize crumble with the first prize rhubard

 

Yvonne scrambles into the skip to retrieve the old mortar she threw away yesterday...

 

I was lucky they only had the Sorrel then.

 

That's interesting. When I was a kid my dad used to grow rhubarb but he stopped doing so because it was too invasive. His rhubarb used to just grow like mad and once it was in. it was a nightmare to control.

His trick was to prepare the rhubarb bed by mixing horse poo with rubble. He said the horse poo feeds it and the rubble stimulates the roots to fork and then send up new top growth, but he admits that's just a theory with no scientific backing that he knows of. Whatever the reason, his observation is that it definitely grows a lot better with the rubble than without.

I'm no building/masonry/cement expert, but I'm guessing that when I was a kid, the rubble being smashed up knocked down walls scavenged from demolition sites, would have mostly used lime mortar. its rare for a brand new building to get knocked down, so back in the late 70s and early 80s, buildings being demolished then would probably have been built with lime mortar so the rubble from them would have been rich in it. Maybe its that rather than simply the hard obstacles for the roots that makes it do so well.

I sense a scientific experiment coming on. I have some smashed up wall, but it is the 'pointless wall' from my back garden, not lime mortar. I think I've also got some much older stuff kicking about somewhere. I might get three rhubarb crowns and plant in 3 identical containers, one with each type of rubble, and one just horse poo, and see which does best.

 

You're right, lime was being used upto the 1950s possibly longer.

That would be interesting to see

 

Recon these bad boys wouldn't be far off prize winning either, not a blemish on the stalks.



Its going to have to be custard with em though, not got much butter left and its an hour & a half walk to the shop.

 

I thought it was 10 miles.

 

No, Crewkerne is 10 miles, thats where the Garage is, nearest shop is hour & a half round trip, along a 60mph road with no pavement.

 

Fabulous Zig...prize winner if ever i saw

I put manure on mine Zig.....alright alright....i've got my coat on

 

Ello Sailor

 

Pudding was lovely