A If you have a rhubarb plant that’s been growing in the garden for a year or two, weed round it and sit the pot over the crown of the dormant plant like a large lid, any time now. Stuff the pot with straw or bracken and within a few weeks you’ll find the warmth, shelter and darkness of the pot has encouraged the plant into early growth.

When there are several long, thin, “stretched”,

pale-coloured rhubarb stems start pulling a few for the kitchen. By the time rhubarb is growing well, after a month or six weeks, remove the lid and the “stuffing” and let the plant grow normally for the rest of the season. You can continue pulling stalks as usual until mid summer, when it turns tough.

If you are planting new rhubarb plants, give them a year to get established before you force them.