Weeds Protected My Rhubarb Ridges — Getting Ready for the November Harvest

✎ ◷

Good morning, everyone!

Today I started getting ready for the November harvest.

This year, wet weather lingered from mid-August on. The forecast said it would continue for some time, so I paused my weeding for a while.

There was a reason for that. To protect the raised ridges where my rhubarb grows, I deliberately let the weeds grow tall. I wanted them to act as an umbrella over the ridges and guard both the rhubarb and the ridges themselves.

It worked, and the rhubarb ridges came through just fine. I started weeding again today because I judged that the end of the wet stretch was finally in sight.

2026 Rainfall by 10-Day Period — Suwa (next to Fujimi Town, Nagano; Nagano Local Meteorological Observatory data)
Period Rainfall (mm) Normal (mm) Compared to normal
Late June 196.0 72.7 Much above normal
Early July 38.0 83.7 Below normal
Mid-July 19.0 68.2 Below normal
Late July 10.0 42.2 Below normal
Early August 15.0 41.1 Below normal
Mid-August 77.5 53.1 Above normal
Late August 118.0 46.6 Much above normal
Early September 114.5 49.7 Above normal
Mid-September 97.5 70.5 Above normal
Late September 79.0 56.8 Above normal
Early October 0.0 54.7 Much below normal
Mid-October 16.5 41.0 Below normal

Source: Japan Meteorological Agency, Nagano Local Meteorological Observatory, “Nagano Prefecture Ten-Day Weather Report” (late October data not yet published). These are readings from Suwa, a neighboring town, not from Fujimi Town itself.


When I looked closely at the weeds, they were thriving, soaking up the extra water from the ridges. Without them, the ridges would be down to nothing but small stones by now, and the rhubarb roots would be exposed.
Thank you, weeds!

The garden before weeding
The garden before weeding

The ridges are still standing strong. I’ll pull the weeds with gratitude, because they did their job beautifully.

The ridges before weeding
The ridges before weeding

As the sun comes out today, the surface soil will start to dry, but the moisture deeper down will stay put. The soil a little below the surface here holds plenty of water, which makes it wonderful soil.

Even in this year’s hot summer, the soil stayed pleasantly moist. I never had to bother with watering.

The ridges after weeding, photo 1
The ridges after weeding, photo 1

I’ll keep weeding while the harvest gets underway in November. After harvest comes more weeding, then a layer of chicken manure to condition the soil, and after that I’ll move on to dividing the plants.

The ridges after weeding, photo 2
The ridges after weeding, photo 2

Here’s how the rhubarb is coming along. It looks great! I should be able to start harvesting in November, right on schedule.

This morning’s rhubarb, October 28
This morning’s rhubarb, October 28

That’s all for today!

Hi, I'm Toshi, the creator of AcreSeason. I grow rhubarb in Fujimi Town, Nagano, Japan, and share my passion for rhubarb through cultivation and premium rhubarb products.
赤いルバーブにこだわって栽培し，ジャムなどの製品を通じて，その魅力を多くの方へお届けします。

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grass Cutting Work Reveals a Hidden Pheasant Nest Full of Eggs

✎ ◷
Image
English | 日本語 Good morning. Today is the first day of a large-scale mowing operation. I’m fully motivated for the early morning work. Let’s get right to mowing the grass. This time, I’ll be using the Kubota shoulder-mounted engine brush cutter KC222 series. For fuel, I prepared 4L of mixed gasoline at a ratio of 25–50:1. It delivers powerful cutting performance. Overall condition before mowing work (right side) Partway through the work, suddenly and unexpectedly, a female pheasant flew up from near me. Wondering what was going on, I headed toward the spot where she had taken off and found a nest with many eggs inside. The female pheasant I had just seen had been protecting those eggs and the nest. It reminded me that humans are certainly not the only ones who need this land. Since the work had not just started, she must have been carefully protecting the eggs until the very last moment before flying away. Somehow, I felt a little sorry. Situation where the pheasant nest and eg...
Read more

June vs. August Rhubarb: Does the Season Affect Color and Flavor?

✎ ◷
Image
English | 日本語  Good morning, everyone. It is the middle of summer, and I hope you are all doing well. Here, I have been weeding the rows in the vegetable garden. There seem to be relatively few weeds because of the large leaves of the rhubarb, but the plants appear to be wilted and not very vigorous because of the heat. And the most distinctive feature was that there were very few of the characteristic red petioles that symbolize red rhubarb, with most of them being lush green. The red color of these petioles comes from anthocyanin, a type of natural pigment produced by plants. Rhubarb petioles contain various types of polyphenols produced by the plant. Among them, anthocyanin is one of the representative pigments responsible for red and reddish-purple coloration. Simply put, polyphenols are a group of compounds found in plants, and flavonoids are one group within polyphenols, with anthocyanins existing as a group within flavonoids. Rhubarb accumulates a large amount of an...
Read more

The Story Behind AcreSeason™ Red Rhubarb Jam: How Our 5.3 oz (150g) and 19.75 oz (560g) Jars Are Made

✎ ◷
Image
English | 日本語  Good morning. Today is a special day as the red rhubarb that I carefully grew and harvested is transformed into jam. I am very excited. Harvesting work beginning at 4 a.m. Rhubarb harvested from 4 a.m. It is 4 a.m., and the rhubarb field is still dark. I put on a headlamp and begin harvesting the rhubarb. Just as with the fresh cut rhubarb, I harvest only clean, high-quality rhubarb. The field is surrounded by forest, so there is nothing else around, but there are many wild animals. This time, I only heard birds and deer. I harvest equipped with bear spray in case a bear appears. Washing the harvested rhubarb Carefully selected red rhubarb At 6:20 a.m., we began washing the harvested rhubarb. We carefully wash it under running water, including the fine grooves. It was a little chilly at this hour, and the running water felt quite cold, but we were able to finish the work safely. Then, using a light, we keep only the clean, red ...
Read more