Janet wrote:
Our rhubarb looks pretty much ready to pick.
How does one know when it's 'ok' to pick?
We've been picking ours for a fortnight. For an established patch.
"when" is as soon as you can break off stems about 6" long.

Lovely, I'll go out later and pick some, then.

Young plants in their first season should be allowed to keep their stems
so the leaves can photosynthesise and build up a strong root system. Once
a root system is well established and being well fed, nothing short of a
direct nuclear hit will damage it.

*nod* It's a very well established pair of plants. Nick was meant to split
it over the winter, but it started to regrow earlier than predicted, so he
missed his chance.

Your boys might enjoy a favourite pud of my boys; stewed rhubarb mixed
with a packet of raspberry jelly cubes and allowed to set.

They probably would, but I don't give them jelly, so they'll have to live
with crumble and ice-cream for now.