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Planting and caring for sorrel in the open field is a simple task. It is considered one of the simplest garden crops, sometimes runs wild, and can grow like a weed on acidic soils. In spring, sorrel is one of the first to start growing green mass.
Today, the first green leaves are mainly used for food, making up for the lack of vitamins and microelements after winter. Then the culture is most often safely forgotten until the next season. And quite recently in Our Country, cabbage soup, side dishes, and stuffing for baking were prepared from young greens. Sorrel is often used in modern French cuisine – it is put in omelettes, sauces. The most popular is the “health soup” – potage sante.
Description of sorrel
As a food crop, Sorrel Sorrel or Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), belonging to the Buckwheat family, is grown. It is a food, medicinal and technical perennial herbaceous plant. Depending on the variety and growing conditions, it reaches a height of 15-40 cm, and together with a flower arrow – 100 cm.
The root of the plant is taproot, with a large number of lateral processes. Stem ascending, simple or branched at the base. If the leaves are constantly cut off and flowering is not allowed, it will be short and almost imperceptible. The sorrel, which receives excessive feeding, especially phosphorus, or left without pruning, shoots an arrow, which causes the stem to stretch.
Leaves up to 20 cm, lanceolate, located on long petioles. At the top of the stem they have a lanceolate shape and a torn film bell is formed at the attachment point. Leaves located directly on the shoot are rare, small, sessile.
In July-August, unremarkable greenish or reddish flowers appear, collected in a loose panicle. By September-October, small shiny seeds ripen, resembling a brown trihedral nut.
The most popular varieties are called spinach. They are distinguished by large leaves, a high content of carotene and vitamin C. Spinach sorrel contains 1,5 times more proteins than ordinary sorrel, and 3 times less acids.
When to plant sorrel in open ground with seeds
In one place, the culture grows from 3 to 5 years. In the first year, it gives a small harvest, so it makes sense to lay a new bed before removing the old one. The timing of planting sorrel can be chosen at your own discretion. Sowing seeds in open ground is carried out in early spring, as soon as the snow melts, in summer and late autumn in regions with a cool and temperate climate.
What kind of soil does sorrel like
Unlike most garden crops, sorrel prefers acidic soils. With a slightly acidic soil reaction, it also grows well. In neutral, development is slow – the leaves become small, the yield will be small. But sorrel is not the kind of greens that are eaten daily and in large quantities. If it is not supposed to bake pies with it or freeze it for the winter, a dozen bushes are usually enough for their own consumption, so gardeners rarely think about acidifying the soil with a neutral reaction.
But if you need a lot of greenery, for example, for sale, and the acidity of the soil “does not reach” the requirements of sorrel, it is increased artificially. To do this, use riding (red) peat. It also increases the permeability of the soil and improves its structure.
The plant will give the greatest harvest on fertile soils rich in organic matter. But for your own consumption, it is not necessary to specially enrich the beds with humus or compost. They are introduced only if you really need a lot of greenery, or there is enough organic matter on the farm in excess for all crops.
How to plant sorrel seeds in the ground
The easiest way to plant sorrel in the spring is by dividing the bush into several parts. That’s just the most tender and delicious greens can be obtained by sowing seeds in open ground.
What to plant next to sorrel
Sorrel is planted next to such crops:
- between the bushes of gooseberries, black currants;
- along the edge of the raspberry;
- next to garden strawberries;
- from vegetable crops, joint planting with radish, carrots, cabbage is possible;
- Only mint and lemon balm will feel good from spicy-aromatic plants next to sorrel.
You can not plant a crop near:
- leguminous plants – they mutually oppress each other;
- tomatoes;
- any herbs other than those mentioned above.
Site preparation
A bed for planting sorrel in open ground with seeds must be prepared in advance. Ideally, the site is dug up and allowed to settle for 2 weeks. But it is not always possible to do everything according to the rules due to lack of time or other reasons. Then the bed intended for sorrel is loosened and watered, and the next day the seeds are sown.
If necessary, sour peat and organic matter are added for digging. Humus and compost enrich the soil with essential nutrients. If the soil is poor, and there is no excess organic matter, you will have to use mineral fertilizers. They should not contain phosphorus, as this substance promotes shooting. Nitrogen can be given in any form, but potassium-rich ash under sorrel cannot be applied – it deoxidizes the soil.
Seed preparation
It is not necessary to prepare sorrel seeds for planting. They germinate at a temperature of + 3 ° C, although + 20 ° C is considered optimal. With early spring and late autumn crops, seed preparation can lead to the fact that they will germinate at the wrong time, and the seedlings will die.
It is possible to soak and stimulate planting material during late spring, summer planting and growing sorrel under a film cover or in a greenhouse. Then gentle shoots are no longer afraid of weather disasters.
It is possible to grow sorrel through seedlings, but it does not make sense.
How to plant sorrel
Sowing of sorrel is carried out on pre-prepared beds. First, shallow furrows are made, they are abundantly spilled with water. Rarely sow seeds and cover 2 cm of soil. Additional moisture is not needed, the moisture in the soil will be enough for the germination of seedlings.
The distance between the rows is made approximately 15-20 cm. For 1 sq. m plantings consume approximately 1,5 g of seeds.
Is it possible to transplant sorrel
If necessary, the plant can be planted or moved to another place. It is easily propagated by division in spring or autumn, quickly takes root. But the culture is easy to grow from seeds, and the greens of young plants are much tastier than plucked from an old bush.
It makes sense to propagate rare or ornamental varieties by division. This should be done in the spring, as soon as the sorrel begins to grow, in late summer or early autumn, after the heat subsides.
- The old bush is dug up.
- Shake off excess soil from roots.
- Using a sharp knife, they are divided into several parts, removing old, diseased or pest-damaged areas.
- Shorten too long roots.
- In pre-prepared soil, shallow pits are made at a distance of 10 cm from each other. Rows should be 15-20 cm apart.
- Delenki are planted, compacted the soil, watered abundantly.
How long does it take for sorrel to rise
When sowing dry seeds and temperatures above +3 ° C, sorrel begins to sprout after 2 weeks. If you build a film shelter, the first shoots will appear in 5-8 days. Sorrel will also hatch faster if you pre-soak the seeds in a growth stimulator or ordinary water, but not during early spring or late autumn plantings.
Sorrel Care
Growing sorrel and caring for it in the open field does not take much time. Perhaps this is the simplest garden crop that can be planted even in partial shade, and only harvested. But if you give the plant minimal care, you can provide yourself with fresh vitamin greens from early spring to late autumn. Use it for salads, soups, freezing and baking.
Thinning sprouts
An important step in planting and caring for sorrel is thinning seedlings. No matter how gardeners try to sow seeds in open ground rarely, some of the young plants will still have to be removed.
Bushes should not grow close to each other – so they cannot develop normally and it will not work to get a quality crop. With a thickened planting, the feeding area decreases, the leaves block each other’s light, and favorable conditions are created for the development of diseases and the reproduction of pests.
As soon as 2-3 true leaves appear, shoots break through, leaving 5-10 cm between the bushes in the rows. The distance depends on the nutritional value of the soil and variety.
Watering and feeding sorrel
Sorrel is not classified as a drought-resistant crop, but even in the south, planted in partial shade, it is able to endure a hot summer. Of course, the plant needs to be watered several times per season, but it needs loosening the soil more than water. With a lack of moisture, sorrel is unlikely to die, but its leaves will become small and hard, young ones will stop growing even after complete pruning.
In order to form a lot of greenery, in early spring the culture is fed with nitrogen, it doesn’t matter if it is of mineral or organic origin. The procedure is repeated after each mass pruning. In late August or early September, the bushes are fertilized with potassium and stop giving nitrogen. In this case, ash cannot be used, as it reduces the acidity of the soil.
Phosphorus should generally be excluded from the “diet” of sorrel – it promotes flowering. As soon as the arrow appears, young leaves stop forming and all the forces of the plant are directed to the formation of seeds.
If you do not fertilize the sorrel at all, in the first year after planting it will still give a lot of greenery. In subsequent seasons, only the spring collection of leaves will be satisfactory.
Loosening and mulching
Loosening the soil is an important stage in the care of the crop. It should be carried out regularly, which will allow the sorrel root system to receive enough oxygen, prevent weeds and reduce the amount of watering.
It is not necessary to mulch the beds. For the culture itself, this does not really matter, but it can make it easier to care for. It is best to use acidic peat – it brings the soil reaction to the requirements of sorrel. You can cover the ground with paper, humus. Some gardeners plant crops on black agrofibre.
Removing flower arrows
Flowering depletes sorrel, promotes root aging, and prevents the formation of young leaves. Arrows are left only if they want to get their own seeds. To do this, choose a few of the best bushes, since it simply does not make sense to allow all plants to bloom.
On other plants, arrows are removed as soon as they appear. At the same time, it is better to cut them off, rather than cut them off manually.
How to treat sorrel from pests
Despite the high acid content, the culture has its own pests:
- sorrel aphid, sucking the juice from the leaves;
- sorrel leafworm;
- sawfly caterpillars.
Among the diseases should be highlighted:
- downy mildew of sorrel, manifested as a white coating on the leaves;
- rust, in which brown spots appear on the green;
- rot resulting from overflows, especially on dense soils.
It is impossible to solve problems by using ash, as many sources advise – when this substance, which is invaluable for most crops, is introduced, the soil deoxidizes, which harms the sorrel. Soap solution, the benefits of which are already doubtful, is alkali in its pure form, only diluted with water.
Although the culture is oppressed by sorrel pests, and the fight against them is troublesome, the use of chemicals is not recommended. It is better to carry out the treatment with infusion of garlic, wormwood, hot pepper. From diseases, spray planting with phytosporin.
As a preventive measure, you can advise:
- adjust watering, sorrel does not need a lot of water;
- regularly loosen the beds;
- thin out the landing.
Harvesting
Sorrel is rich in citric and malic acid, which gives it a sour taste, proteins, potassium, iron and vitamin C. The first green leaves that appear in early spring are especially valuable.
It is precisely because of the presence of oxalic acid in greenery that many gardeners bypass this unpretentious and early-growing crop. But they forget or simply do not know that young leaves completely process the harmful substance in the process of growth. Acid accumulates exclusively in old hard and rough leaves, which are easy to distinguish from soft, tender fresh ones.
During the summer, the bushes need to be completely cut off twice. Removing old leaves encourages the constant emergence of young ones, allowing vitamin greens to be consumed from early spring to late fall.
You can simply cut off the young sorrel growing in the center of the outlet as needed. But at the same time, one should not forget to remove and throw old leaves on the compost heap.
With intensive cultivation from 1 square. m per season collect 2-2,5 kg of greenery. The culture gives the greatest harvest in the second and third year after germination.
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What can be planted after sorrel
After sorrel, you can plant any crops, except for other greens and plants belonging to the Buckwheat family.
Conclusion
Planting and caring for sorrel in the open field will not cause trouble even to the laziest gardener. You can just plant a dozen bushes and eat the first tender leaves in early spring, when the body, more than ever, needs vitamins and minerals. Then other crops will arrive in time, and sorrel can be forgotten until next spring.