Lift the rhubarb forcer onto the rhubarb crown in the winter and leave the lid on. Once it starts to shoot it is safest to remove the lid to stop it being pushed off and smashed.

The vigour with which rhubarb grows is dependent on the variety of rhubarb and the richness of the soil. On poor soils rhubarb should be forced only on alternate years and plenty of well rotted manure heaped on the crown in between. For those of us with rich soil, one neglected crown will produce plenty of rhubarb year after year.