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Sorrel is widely used in cooking for the preparation of first courses, various sauces, and canned food. This cold-resistant plant is one of the first to appear in the garden in spring, and is a real storehouse of vitamins, minerals, as well as beneficial acids that give sorrel greens a special sour taste. There is probably no gardener who would not strive to grow vitamin greens in the soil on his site, since the culture does not require special care, and it is not at all demanding on growing conditions.
Planting sorrel seeds
Sorrel is sown in open ground with the help of seeds, and there is no particular reference to the time of sowing. Given the unpretentiousness and frost resistance of the crop, planting can be carried out throughout the warm season: in spring, summer, or late autumn, in order to get an early harvest next spring. However, the most successful is the spring sowing of seeds, when there is a guarantee that they will definitely not freeze, and the chances of growing a crop are high.
The soil in which the sorrel will be grown must be prepared in advance. If it is supposed to plant in the spring, then the soil must be prepared in the fall. It is better to grow sorrel on fertile loamy soil. The acidity of the soil does not really matter for the crop, however, the place where you will grow the crop should not be swampy, or be in a lowland where water can stagnate.
Processing a site for growing sorrel involves deep digging, cleaning the soil from weeds, roots and lumps. You need to plant seeds in the soil seasoned with organic fertilizers: during digging, wood ash and humus 4-5 kg / sq. m, superphosphate 30 g/sq. m, nitrogen 20 g/sq. m. In the spring, immediately before sowing seeds in open ground, the bed must be re-loosened and leveled with a rake.
Growing sorrel does not take up much space in the garden. A solid crop can be grown even in a garden of 2 square meters. m, since the culture grows quite compactly. To plant sorrel with seeds, you need to make small (1-1,5 m) rows 4-5 cm deep, at a distance of about 20 cm from each other. Further, seed can be planted in the furrows. From above, the seeds are sprinkled with earth so that they are in the ground no deeper than 1,5-2 cm – otherwise, most of the seeds simply cannot break out of the ground, and the seedlings will be very weak.
You can speed up the germination of seeds by soaking them in water for a day, as well as covering the beds with a film or some kind of dense material, for example, a tarpaulin. Under shelter, seedlings appear much faster – after about 5-7 days, while, being in unprotected open ground, the seeds germinate in 1,5-2 weeks. Before the appearance of sprouts, care consists in periodic watering of the beds.
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Outdoor care
Growing sorrel in the garden is not particularly difficult. The main care of the crop in the open field is timely watering, weeding and loosening of row spacing. In the first year, watering should be regular – it is necessary to ensure that the soil is always slightly moist, since drying out of the soil will provoke the formation of flower stalks, and thus prevent the growth of good greens. In subsequent years, watering is carried out as needed.
Also care of beds includes obligatory weeding and removal of weeds. Simultaneously with weeding, row spacing is loosened. So that the soil does not dry out and weeds do not grow, it is recommended to mulch the sorrel in the root zone with compost, sawdust or other organic matter – this approach will not only prevent the growth of weeds, but will also become a good top dressing, which will allow you to grow a better crop.
The crop cannot be grown without fertilizers. The first feeding of the oxal plantation is carried out in the spring. At this time, mineral mixtures containing nitrogen are introduced into the soil. Further, feeding the beds with liquid mullein at a concentration of 1:10 is carried out after each mass cutting of greenery – this event is very important for the resumption of plant growth. During loosening, liquid manure or ash solution can be applied to the aisles.
Throughout the warm season, plant care also includes pest control. Most often, sorrel is affected by powdery mildew (grayish spots on the back of the foliage), rust (small brown spots on the surface of greenery), aphids, various beetles and larvae. In this case, the planting is treated with Bordeaux mixture or ash solution. In very advanced cases, insecticides are used, but after that you can’t eat greens – you need to cut it off and wait until new leaves grow. It should be clarified that sorrel is quite resistant to diseases. If the plants are provided with proper care, and the cutting of greens is carried out regularly and correctly, then it is possible to grow crops without pests and diseases.
At the end of the growing season, caring for the bed consists in cutting off the entire ground part of the plants and mulching the bed with peat or compost. Such a nutritious fur coat will help to grow a bountiful harvest next year.
Peculiarities of growing
Despite the good adaptability of sorrel to any growing conditions, its cultivation has some features:
- the culture is not recommended to be grown in a sunny place – the area intended for growing greenery should be in partial shade, while in the evening the soft sun should fall on the plants;
- a garden bed with sorrel can be grown in one place for up to 5 years, but this can lead to degeneration (the leaves will become small and coarse) – periodic (once every 3-4 years) transplant will help to avoid this: in this case, you need to dig up the bushes, separate them, and plant elsewhere;
- you need to cut the leaves 4-5 times per season – this procedure improves plant growth, and allows you to grow more lush and juicy greens;
- according to the rules of crop rotation, the cultivation of sorrel will be more successful if its predecessors in the garden were onions, cabbage, herbs, potatoes;
- in autumn, it is necessary to plant oxalic culture with seeds in late October – early November, so that the seeds do not have time to germinate before the onset of frost.
Harvesting
Sorrel leaves reach productive maturity in 70-80 days from the time when the planting was made. When sowing seeds in open ground in early spring, you can harvest from May to July. If you want to have vitamin greens earlier, you need to plant seeds in late autumn – then they will germinate as soon as the snow melts. In this case, the first greens can be cut 2-3 weeks after germination.
Greens need to be cut, or torn off along with the petioles. Medium small leaves should not be torn – we will grow the next crop from them. Picking greens is best done in the morning – at this time the leaves are more juicy. In this case, it is necessary to wait until the dew dries, since wet leaves are poorly stored (rot faster). You can also cut the greens in the evening after sunset. If the bed is well cared for, you can harvest 3-5 times during the season.
In August, the cultivation of greenery stops, and the leaves are no longer cut off – this is necessary so that the plants can accumulate the nutrients they need for wintering. If you have a sorrel bed, it makes sense to grow your seed. To do this, leave 2-3 bushes in the ground, and do not cut the leaves from them. In early June, inflorescences form on the bushes, and by mid-summer fresh seeds will be ready, which can be planted in open ground next year and grow a new crop.
Storage
There are several ways to save sorrel for further use: freeze, dry, preserve. Freezing is a faster and healthier way, as it allows you to save all the nutrients and does not lead to loss of color, which is very typical for oxal greens. To freeze, you need to sort out the leaves, rinse well, then dry a little. Next, the greens should be cut – this is the most troublesome moment, and many housewives freeze the whole leaves to save time. However, later, when using, there are inconveniences with chopping frozen greens, so it is advisable to cut it before freezing. Next, the chopped greens are packaged in portioned bags and placed in the freezer.
Drying is also a good way to process sorrel greens, but be aware that the leaves lose some of their color when dried. For drying, you need to prepare the greens in the same way as for freezing. Then put it on a lined baking sheet and place in a dry, preferably dark place. Sorrel leaves dry out quickly, in just a couple of days.
The next method is canning and salting. The latter option has some disadvantages: firstly, the product turns out to be oversalted, and secondly, such blanks need to be stored only in the refrigerator. The canning option is more acceptable, since the workpiece is moderately salty. Blanched greens are placed in sterilized jars, poured with hot salted brine, and sealed with lids. No preservatives are used, since oxalic acid itself contributes to the preservation of the product.
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