Sorrel may be a leafy green vegetable grown for its pleasantly tart, lemony flavor. It sometimes gets classified as an herb and sometimes as a vegetable. Either way, gardeners within the U.S. don’t grow enough of it. Sorrel plants prefer the cool seasons of spring and fall, quickly bolting to seed because the weather heats up. the 2 most ordinarily grown species aregarden sorrel (Rumex acestosa) and French sorrel (Rumex scutatus).

Sorrel plants have smooth, arrow-shaped leaves that grow from a middle rosette. The plant will send up a tall scape because the temperature warms, but it’s best to get rid of this to market leaf growth for a far better harvest. The red flowers are rather insignificant whorled spikes, like rhubarb.

Sorrel only gets about 12 to 18 inches tall, although the flower stalks (if left on the plant) will get taller. It does opened up though, easily taking over 2 feet in breadth . Sorrel is usually planted in spring and features a moderate growth rate; young leaves are able to harvest during a little over a month.

How to Plant Sorrel

You can start sorrel from seed, cuttings, root division, or transplant, in either spring or early fall. Seed are often started indoors or out, but since you’ll direct sow as early as two to 3 weeks before your last spring frost date, it’s easiest to easily inseminate the garden. Sow the seed 1/2 inch deep, spaced about 3 inches apart. When the plants are 1 to 2 inches tall, thin to a spacing of 12 to fifteen inches. Typically, two or three plants meet the typical family’s need.

Unless you would like to save lots of seed, stop the flower stalks to the bottom and take away any declining leaves. The plant should re-sprout with more tender leaves. Sorrel will self-seed if you allow the seed heads on the plants. to stay your plants healthy and vigorous divide them in spring or early summer every 3three to four years.

Sorrel isn’t often bothered by pests, but aphids may settle in. Blast them off with water and thin the plants, to form them less attractive as hiding spots. you ought to not have any disease problems together with your sorrel.

Sorrel Care
Light

Plants will grow best fully sun, although a touch partial shade will keep them going longer into summer.

Soil

Choose a spot with good drainage. Sorrel likes a rather acidic soil pH; somewhere within the range of 5.5 to 6.8. Since sorrel is grown for its leaves, a soil rich in organic matter will offer you many leafy, green growth.

Water

Give your sorrel plants regular water; a minimum of 1 inch per week. Mulching will help conserve moisture and keep the leaves clean.

Temperature and Humidity

Sorrel plants are reliably perennial in USDA hardiness zones 5 and better , but they’re commonly grown as annuals in zones 3 through 7, starting with new plants each spring. Older plants can become tough and fewer flavorful. Established plants can handle a light-weight frost.

Fertilizer

Sorrel is happiest when started during a rich soil, but you ought to amend the soil annually with more organic matter and possibly side-dress with compost or granular fertilizer applied mid-season.

Is Sorrel Toxic?

While sorrel leaves are safe for humans to eat, the plant contains soluble oxalates that are toxic to dogs, cats, and horses. Ingestion of small amounts of sorrel typically causes gastrointestinal upset, but eating large amounts and/or frequent ingestion can cause twitching (muscle fasciculation), weakness, seizures, and arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats).

Sorrel Varieties

There aren’t many seeds or sorrel plants with named varieties. they’re usually just sorrel, garden sorrel, or French sorrel. French sorrel has smaller leaves and a more subtle flavor than garden sorrel.

Richters Herbs introduced ‘Profusion’ sorrel. It doesn’t set seed and is merely grown from divisions, so you’ll need to purchase or tend your first plant. But it’s a definite advantage, namely wider leaves, that remain tender and non-bitter longer into the season.

There also are four more relatives within the Rumex genus that are edible:

• Common or sheep’s sorrel (Rumex acetosella): Often considered a weed; small leaves that taste best once they are young and tender
• Red-veined sorrel (Rumex sanguineus): Leaves with red veins; more ornamental than flavorful, with little of the tartness you’d expect from a sorrel; good as a salad greens
• Spinach dock (Rumex patientia):Also called patience dock, garden patience, or herb patience; much taller (4 to five feet tall) than garden sorrel but with an identical flavor
• Spinach rhubarb (Rumex abyssinicus): an enormous 8-foot plant with leaves which will substitute for spinach and ribs like rhubarb

Harvesting

Newly seeded plants take 35 to 40 days to succeed in “baby” size and two months to completely mature. Sorrel is prepared to reap when the leaves are about 4 inches long. Tender leaves are best for eating, and if you harvest as cut-and-come-again, you’ll have a gentle supply of young, tender leaves.

You can use sorrel fresh, in salads or on sandwiches, and you’ll also cook with it. The leaves tend to dissolve with long cooking, imparting their lemony flavor.

Fresh sorrel doesn’t store well. it’ll confine the refrigerator for every week approximately , but the flavour and texture will decline. you’ll freeze or dry the leaves, as you’d for the other herb, but the flavour won’t match that of fresh leaves.

How to Grow Sorrel in Pots

Sorrel is a superb choice for container growing. you ought to use a minimum of a 6-inch pot, but 8 to 12 inches is right . One advantage of growing in pots is that you simply often keep the sorrel growing longer than plants within the ground because you’ll move the containers out of the sun on warm days.

Sorrel may be a cool-season perennial often grown as an annual. Sorrel is usually grown from root divisions. Sorrel are often grown from seed sown within the garden as early as 2 to three weeks before the typical last frost date in spring. Sorrel are going to be ready for harvest 60 days after sowing.

TYPES OF SORREL

Sorrel is grown for its tangy, slightly-sour tasting arrow-shaped leaves. There are five sorts of sorrels to settle on from: garden sorrel, French sorrel, herb patience or spinach dock, spinach rhubarb, and customary or sheep’s sorrel . All are good for eating.

• Garden sorrel (Rumex ancestors) grows about three feet tall and produces leaves that will be used fresh in salads.
• French sorrel (R. scutatus) grows 6 to 12 inches (15-30cm) tall and has fiddle-shaped leaves utilized in salads.
• Herb patience or spinach dock (R. patientia) grows to four feet tall with leaves which will be used either fresh or cooked.
• Spinach rhubarb (R. abyssinicus) grows up to eight feet (2.4m) tall; the leaves are often used like spinach and therefore the stalks like rhubarb.
• Common or sheep’s sorrel (R. acetosella) may be a wild plant whose leaves are often eaten raw in salads or cooked like spinach.

Red Veined sorrel also called Bloody sorrel (Rumex sanguineus)

PLANTING SORREL

Site. Plant sorrel fully sun. Sorrel grows best in well-worked, well-drained soil rich in organic material. Add aged compost to planting beds before planting. Sorrel prefers a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.8.

Planting time. Sorrels are very hardy. Sow sorrel within the garden as early as 2 to three weeks before the typical date of the last frost in spring. In zones 5 and warmer, sorrel will grow as a perennial. Divide plants to renew them every 3 to 4 years.

Planting and spacing. Sow sorrel seed ½ inch (12mm) deep and a couple of to three inches (2.5-7cm) apart. Thin successful seedlings from 12 to 18 inches (30-45cm) apart when plants are 6 to eight weeks old. Space rows 18 to 24 inches (45-61cm) apart. Divide established sorrel in spring. Choose male plants–without flowers–for divisions to avoid reseeding.

Companion plants. Strawberries but not tall plants like corn or pole beans.

Container growing. Sorrel grows well during a 6-inch (15cm) pot. In larger containers, plant sorrel on 8-inch (20cm) centers.Sorrel in garden

Garden sorrel (Rumex acestosa)

CARING FOR SORREL

Water and feeding. Sorrel should be kept evenly moist. Add aged compost to planting beds before planting and again at midseason.

Care. Sorrel isn’t demanding; it requires little extra care. Keep beds weed-free.

Pests. Aphids can attack sorrel. Control them by pinching out infested areas or hosing the aphids off the plants.

Diseases. Sorrel has no serious disease problems.

HARVESTING AND STORING SORREL

Harvest. Pick fresh sorrel leaves once they are young and tender, just 4 or 5 inches (10-12cm) tall. Harvest cut-and-come-again through the season . Leaves are often harvested as early as 60 days after sowing. Remove flowers before they mature to stay the plants producing new leaves into the autumn .

Storing and preserving. Use sorrel fresh. Sorrel leaves will confine the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks. Sorrel leaves are often frozen or dried and used as an herb; some flavor are going to be lost.

Varieties. See the list of sorts of sorrel above.

Common name. Garden sorrel, herb patience or spinach dock, French sorrel, spinach rhubarb

Botanical name. sour dock , Rumex patientia, French sorrel , Rumex abyssinicus