Gardening with Pat Duke: Rhubarb earns its space - it takes more time to harvest than look after

The cooler months are a great time for planning and redesigning the garden, if that’s what you have in mind.

As growth slows down we can do those jobs we've been putting off, like dividing plants and moving perennials and shrubs.

There’s always something to do in the garden whatever the time of year - and never enough space.

Even though the temperature has dropped since mid-September, there are still plants that need a cold snap to trigger growth. Garlic is a great example of this as are some perennial meadow grasses.

Most gardens will benefit from having a patch of meadow grass.

Not only do they look stunning and unusual but they attract insects which in turn encourage other wildlife into the garden. Im not talking about a herd of wildebeest, to coin a phrase, but hedgehogs and frogs that will do a job on the slugs and other pests, while fascinating any young children enough to lure them from a nearby screen.

Clear a sunny patch, which might even be circles in an existing lawn. You can do this now if you have light soil, or add sharp sand if your soil is heavier.

Scatter your seeds by adding a handful of sand to the mix as this helps distribute them more evenly.

You should find they will grow quite quickly and become established but won’t come into their full glory until spring.

As they are perennials, they might not be as tall as you’d like for a few years so you can mix a few annuals in with them for interest until they do.

Cosmos, cornflowers and phacelia will look great and attract the bees while you’re waiting. Many suppliers will offer an annuals mix for this very purpose.

Redesigning and planning is much more preferable to those other autumn jobs that need doing such as cleaning all the windows in the greenhouse, cleaning the pots, oiling and sharpening tools and, worst of all, carting wet manure across the garden - but never anywhere near the house.

ON THE PLOT

When the damp weather arrives it's time to look after the soil and put the building blocks of next year's crop in place.

An absolute essential is that you add some substrate such as compost or leaf mould. Ideally both would be used, as by now you would be naturally making your own in the spirit of self sustainability.

It might look untidy but the worms and rain will do their magic and drag it deeper into the soil by springtime.

Once beds are covered, even if this means earthing up veg that stays in until late winter such as parsnips, kale and brassicas, we need to make sure the soil structure has time to recover from an energetic growing season.

Clearly we might need to get on it to plant or harvest a few things so keep a scaffolding plank handy and step on that instead of directly on the soil.

I m not quite sure how we accumulate scaffolding planks on the plot but we do and I've yet to see one on general sale.

If you have hedges around the plot, give them a cut and you can forget about them until spring.

It's amazing how different things look and how much more light and space you achieve once this is done.

Get on with hand weeding around onions and garlic and separate any rhubarb that wouldn’t look out of place in a jungle.

Rhubarb is rapidly becoming an elite plant in terms of expense so its well worth the space and what little time it takes to care for.

It takes more time to harvest than look after, it’s that easy.

Placing a heap of manure on it and the odd watering is all it needs to produce broad pink delicious stems.