We retired to our house in Malta last year and were able to get a part of a field to grow things on. Having never seen rhubarb or asparagus growing on the island we thought we would give them a try along with lots of other plants. The problem is that the growing season never really stops here so that the rhubarb and asparagus are both still growing rapidly. The lowest the temps get here are about 8C (47F) at night during Jan and Feb, but even then the temps are not like this for more than a couple of days (Most of the time 12C - 56F is more usual). Both have been grown from seed started in April. For the rhubarb we read that you shouldn't pick until the second year, but with the long growing season they are still in full growth and the crowns are already getting big and each plant has between 6 and 10 large leaves and stems (stems about 10-14 inchs) Do I need to cut them back to force a rest period or just let them get on with it. It is the same basic question for the asparagus which just continues to grow making more and more shoots and foliage. Any advice on either of the plants would be great.
Here are a few websites for you Mike. Hope they help. :-D http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-growing.html [PDF] http://extension.unh.edu/Pubs/HGPubs/asparags.pdf
Hi Mike, what part of Malta are you from? I lived in St. Julians for a year and a half 2004 - 2006. I know first hand how terribly hot it gets I don't believe I saw any rhubarb or asparagus growing when I was there. I'm going to try and have a look for info to help you but I just wanted to say that I loved Malta, great people! Welcome to the Stew!
Thanks Eileen, Gardenstew We live in Siggiewi. What they call in Malta out in the country. We bought the house back in 1986 and retired here last year. Thanks Eileen for the links I will see if they are any help. I don't know if I should cut the rhubarb right back to force a rest or just leave it be. Same with the asparagus. It seems a shame as they are both growing so well. Even the tomato plants are still going strong.
The record temp. was 44.6C (112.5F). This summer it got to 38C for a couple of days, but the big problem is water. Because the island is quite small (17 mls by 9mls) all rainwater is collected in cisterns. We have one under our house. There are some boreholes, but very few natural springs. Most of the water is produced by reverse osmosis. Uses 60% of the power produced on the island. Luckily, we have a cistern in the field so we have water, but many of the fields don't so can only grow after rainfalls in Sept (usually, but not much) Main rainfall is in Jan and Feb, but even then the average sunshine per day is nearly 6 hours.
