Sorrel: planting and care in the open field. Sorrel, planting and care in the open field

As soon as at the first spring sunshine, the earth in the beds and forest glades is freed from the white “blanket”, small green sorrel sprouts appear in these places, actively increasing their size with every fine day. And this is very useful for us fresh herbs because the body craves nutrients and vitamins. Therefore, many summer residents who are not able to go to the forest for sorrel grow it in their garden. By the way, there are other names for the plant: sour, sour, chuvel.

Characteristics and features of sorrel

Sorrel is a perennial plant belonging to the buckwheat family. Its root is taproot, branches well, it can go 25 centimeters into the ground. Many buds can be seen on the head of the root. It is from them that further development occurs. sheet plates. Most often, their base is spear-shaped, heart-shaped or swept. The edge of the sorrel leaves is solid. On fertile soils, the length can be from 10 to 15 centimeters. The central vein is pronounced. When the leaf plates are cut off at the outlet, the buds on the root soon awaken, after which the green grows again. In the second year, sorrel produces erect stems with ribs. If not cut off, then their height is from 60 to 100 centimeters. These juicy and tender "bulls" with sourness love to feast on the kids. But when pink or reddish inflorescences called “panicles” ripen on the stems, they coarsen, their structure becomes fibrous. The base of the stem may be dark purple in color. Sessile leaves are placed alternately on the stems. Their shape is ovoid-oblong, oval, elongated.

Laboratory studies have shown that sorrel contains ascorbic acid, carotene, other vitamins, flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside), proteins, organic acids, trace elements.

Sorrel grows in Europe, Asia, North Africa, Western Australia, Russia (including Siberia, the territory of the Far East).

The most important advantages of culture are frost resistance and cold resistance. Sorrel is not afraid of either severe winters or spring temperature drops to minus 7 ° C. Sprouts hatch from sorrel seeds when the soil temperature is only plus 3°C. However, seedlings are more friendly when the temperature is plus 17°C and above. In order for sorrel rosettes to develop well, they need moist soil. When there is little moisture, the sorrel begins to shoot, its leaf plates coarsen. But even in those places where water constantly accumulates, sowing sorrel is not worth it. The preferred reaction medium is neutral or slightly acidic. In one place, sorrel is able to produce good yields for four to five years. It is advisable to make a bed where there is a slight shading (from trees, a fence, a barn), and the sun's rays illuminate and warm this place in the evening hours.

In wild-growing sorrel, when compared with cultivated, the taste of the leaves is more sour, and their size is smaller.

Sorrel varieties that are most in demand among gardeners:

1. "Belleville" - known for a long time, in good conditions gives about seven kilograms per square meter per season, endures harsh winters, and shows resistance to flowering in summer. Suitable for sauces, spring salads, cabbage soup and preservation.
2. "Broad-leaved" - will share greens for cabbage soup about 45 days after the day the sprouts crawled out of the ground. The leaves are oblong-ovate, slightly acid, their color is dark green, there are long petioles. The width of the plates is 7 centimeters, and the length is up to 16 centimeters. The socket of them is loose. The downside is that in hot summers, if there is little rainfall, then this sorrel shoots quickly.
3. "Large-leaved" - the leaves are light green, pleasant to the taste, from six to ten centimeters wide, and up to fourteen centimeters long. You can cut the first batch after 35-40 days from the day of hatching from the ground. Suitable for different regions countries. Differs in surprising resistance to frosts and shooting.
4. "Malachite" - has beautiful green smooth (or slightly bubbly) spear-shaped leaves, the edge of which is wavy. They grow very fast. The first cut can be done after 40-45 days from the moment shoots were noticed from the ground.
5. "Emerald Vitamin" - the first time its light green most delicate leaves can be cut after 37 days, and then every 18 days. The shape of the leaf plates is elongated-oval, and they taste sweet and sour.
6. "Emerald Snow" - a sprawling rosette consists of slightly bubbly ovoid leaves. She looks beautiful in the garden, gives abundant harvests palatable leaves.
7. "Spinach" - it is classified as mid-early. A rosette of large leaves is loose. Their color is rich green, slightly acidic in taste.

Love novelties, then we suggest trying in practice such varieties that are distinguished by high yields - "Winter Stock", "Vegetarian", "Schi Borscht", "Trapeza", "Avdeevsky".

Now the attention of summer residents is attracted by decorative varieties, which are also suitable for culinary purposes: "Red Veins", "Sanguine", "Bloody Mary".

Planting sorrel

It is advisable to prepare a bed for this crop in the fall. The territory is dug up, while a mixture of humus and wood ash is added. Can be on square meter add 7 kilograms of compost, 25 grams of potassium chloride, 35 grams of superphosphate. Urea is applied in the spring, 20 grams are measured per square meter. The place must be cleared of weeds, especially wheatgrass roots, otherwise they will take nutrients from the sorrel. We also mention the predecessors of sorrel, after which it develops well - these are dill, carrots, parsley, radishes, beets, lettuce, potatoes.

It is permissible to sow seeds in three terms:

• in November or October (when the ground is a little frozen);
• in April (when the earth begins to thaw);
• in July (after radishes, spinach, Chinese cabbage and bow).

From dry seeds, sprouts will appear in about two weeks. If you soak the seeds, it will speed up their spitting (everything will happen on the eighth day). Under the film shoots are usually shown on the sixth day. The recommended embedment depth is from 15 to 30 millimeters. Leave a distance of 20 centimeters between rows. During summer sowing, mulch the bed with peat or humus. On average, about one gram of seeds is spent per square meter of land.

Further care for sorrel

• Be sure to thin out your seedlings, first making the distance between plants four centimeters, and then six to seven centimeters.
• The main aspect when growing sorrel is not too abundant, but timely watering, no matter what time you planted the seeds. If the soil under the sorrel dries out, then such conditions of detention will provoke the release of flower stalks by plants, which will immediately affect the taste of the green mass.
• Periodic weeding and loosening will also affect the yield. You can make your work easier if you mulch the plantings after watering. Then weeds in the garden will appear less.
• When a flower arrow appears from the outlet, cut it off.
• In the morning, the leaves are more juicy, so it is advisable to cut them at this time, using scissors or a small handy knife. At the same time, leave the petiole 3-5 centimeters near the ground. Do not touch the small leaves located in the center of the outlet, let them continue to gain nutrients. Sometimes novice summer residents simply pull the sheet, hoping that it will come off. But at the same time there is a big risk that the plant will quickly break out with the roots. Cutting is usually done every two or three weeks. About a month before the expected autumn frosts, cutting greenery should be stopped to allow the sorrel to rest a bit and gain strength before wintering.
• Before the arrival of the calendar winter, you can sketch the contents on the roots remaining in the garden compost pit, rotted sawdust.
• In early spring, remove old leaves on oxal rosettes, mow the stems. At this time appropriate mineral supplements, for each square meter, a teaspoon is applied ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium salts. You can use heavily diluted mullein, chicken or fermented nettle infusion.

If you want to receive from sorrel own seeds, then in the spring select a few copies and do not cut the leaves from them during the summer season. Pinkish flowers appear around June. Seeds in panicles will ripen in July, acquiring a brownish color. Cut off the "panicles", tie them in bunches and leave for 10 days to dry and ripen. Then grind the “panicles” with your hands, while removing debris. If you store the seeds in a dry place, their germination will last for four years.

With proper care, sorrel does not cause trouble. And yet sometimes he is overcome by diseases:

1. Rust - then spots appear on the leaves and petioles, the color of which is yellowish-brown. On these spots are spore-bearing dark boxes. You can rid the plant of the disease with the help of a solution in which copper sulfate is mixed.
2. False powdery mildew- spots with a grayish coating are visible on the underside of the leaf plate. It is possible to prevent the spread of the disease if, 10 days before cutting the greenery, treat the plants with Bordeaux liquid or Fitosporin.

Pests that love to eat succulent leaves are sorrel leafworm, sawfly caterpillars, and winter scoops. Then you have to spray the plants with infusions prepared using nightshade, garlic, and tomato branches. When invading aphid colonies, do regular spraying with infusions based on onion peel, burdock leaves or dandelion. It will also be useful to dust the leaf plates with ash powder. In autumn, cuts of leaves are treated with infusions of tops from potatoes or tomatoes. At the same time, you can use a phyto-remedy called "Fitoverm" or the drug "Anabasin-sulfate".

Taking two ridges on the site under different varieties sorrel, you will provide your family not only with greens for vitamin cabbage soup, but also prepare canned sorrel in half-liter jars for the winter. And after drying, washed and chopped leaves can be decomposed into bags with a special fastener and sent to the freezer.

Sorrel, photo

As soon as at the first spring sunshine, the earth in the beds and forest glades is freed from the white “blanket”, small green sorrel sprouts appear in these places, actively increasing their size with every fine day. And this fresh greens is very useful for us, because the body craves nutrients and vitamins. Therefore, many summer residents who are not able to go to the forest for sorrel grow it in their garden. By the way, there are other names for the plant: sour, sour, chuvel.

Characteristics and features of sorrel

Sorrel is a perennial plant belonging to the buckwheat family. Its root is taproot, branches well, it can go 25 centimeters into the ground. Many buds can be seen on the head of the root. It is from them that the development of leaf plates occurs in the future. Most often, their base is spear-shaped, heart-shaped or swept. The edge of the sorrel leaves is solid. On fertile soils, the length can be from 10 to 15 centimeters. The central vein is pronounced. When the leaf plates are cut off at the outlet, the buds on the root soon awaken, after which the green grows again. In the second year, sorrel produces erect stems with ribs. If not cut off, then their height is from 60 to 100 centimeters. These juicy and tender "bulls" with sourness love to feast on the kids. But when pink or reddish inflorescences called “panicles” ripen on the stems, they coarsen, their structure becomes fibrous. The base of the stem may be dark purple in color. Sessile leaves are placed alternately on the stems. Their shape is ovoid-oblong, oval, elongated.

Laboratory studies have shown that sorrel contains ascorbic acid, carotene, other vitamins, flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside), proteins, organic acids, trace elements.

Sorrel grows in Europe, Asia, North Africa, Western Australia, Russia (including Siberia, the territory of the Far East).

The most important advantages of culture are frost resistance and cold resistance. Sorrel is not afraid of either severe winters or spring temperature drops to minus 7 ° C. Sprouts hatch from sorrel seeds when the soil temperature is only plus 3°C. However, seedlings are more friendly when the temperature is plus 17°C and above. In order for sorrel rosettes to develop well, they need moist soil. When there is little moisture, the sorrel begins to shoot, its leaf plates coarsen. But even in those places where water constantly accumulates, sowing sorrel is not worth it. The preferred reaction medium is neutral or slightly acidic. In one place, sorrel is able to produce good yields for four to five years. It is advisable to make a bed where there is a slight shading (from trees, a fence, a barn), and the sun's rays illuminate and warm this place in the evening hours.

In wild-growing sorrel, when compared with cultivated, the taste of the leaves is more sour, and their size is smaller.

Sorrel varieties that are most in demand among gardeners:

1. "Belleville" - has been known for a long time, in good conditions it gives about seven kilograms per square meter per season, endures harsh winters, and shows resistance to flowering in summer. Suitable for sauces, spring salads, cabbage soup and preservation.
2. "Broad-leaved" - will share greens for cabbage soup about 45 days after the day the sprouts crawled out of the ground. The leaves are oblong-ovate, slightly acid, their color is dark green, there are long petioles. The width of the plates is 7 centimeters, and the length is up to 16 centimeters. The socket of them is loose. The downside is that in hot summers, if there is little rainfall, then this sorrel shoots quickly.
3. "Large-leaved" - the leaves are light green, pleasant to taste, from six to ten centimeters wide, and up to fourteen centimeters long. You can cut the first batch after 35-40 days from the day of hatching from the ground. Suitable for different regions of the country. Differs in surprising resistance to frosts and shooting.
4. "Malachite" - has beautiful green smooth (or slightly bubbly) spear-shaped leaves, the edge of which is wavy. They grow very fast. The first cut can be done after 40-45 days from the moment shoots were noticed from the ground.
5. "Emerald Vitamin" - the first time its light green most delicate leaves can be cut after 37 days, and then every 18 days. The shape of the leaf plates is elongated-oval, and they taste sweet and sour.
6. "Emerald Snow" - a sprawling rosette consists of slightly bubbly ovoid leaves. It looks beautiful in the garden, gives abundant harvests of pleasant-tasting leaves.
7. "Spinach" - it is classified as mid-early. A rosette of large leaves is loose. Their color is rich green, slightly acidic in taste.

Love novelties, then we suggest trying in practice such varieties that are distinguished by high yields - "Winter Stock", "Vegetarian", "Schi Borscht", "Trapeza", "Avdeevsky".

Now the attention of summer residents is also attracted by decorative varieties, which are also suitable for culinary purposes: "Red Veins", "Sanguine", "Bloody Mary".

Planting sorrel

It is advisable to prepare a bed for this crop in the fall. The territory is dug up, while a mixture of humus and wood ash is added. You can add 7 kilograms of compost, 25 grams of potassium chloride, 35 grams of superphosphate per square meter. Urea is applied in the spring, 20 grams are measured per square meter. The place must be cleared of weeds, especially wheatgrass roots, otherwise they will take nutrients from the sorrel. We also mention the predecessors of sorrel, after which it develops well - these are dill, carrots, parsley, radishes, beets, lettuce, potatoes.

It is permissible to sow seeds in three terms:

• in November or October (when the ground is a little frozen);
• in April (when the earth begins to thaw);
• in July (after radishes, spinach, Chinese cabbage and onions).

From dry seeds, sprouts will appear in about two weeks. If you soak the seeds, it will speed up their spitting (everything will happen on the eighth day). Under the film shoots are usually shown on the sixth day. The recommended embedment depth is from 15 to 30 millimeters. Leave a distance of 20 centimeters between rows. During summer sowing, mulch the bed with peat or humus. On average, about one gram of seeds is spent per square meter of land.

Further care for sorrel

• Be sure to thin out your seedlings, first making the distance between plants four centimeters, and then six to seven centimeters.
• The main aspect when growing sorrel is not too plentiful, but timely watering, no matter what time you planted the seeds. If the soil under the sorrel dries out, then such conditions of detention will provoke the release of flower stalks by plants, which will immediately affect the taste of the green mass.
• Periodic weeding and loosening will also affect the yield. You can make your work easier if you mulch the plantings after watering. Then weeds in the garden will appear less.
• When a flower arrow appears from the outlet, cut it off.
• In the morning, the leaves are more juicy, so it is advisable to cut them at this time, using scissors or a small handy knife. At the same time, leave the petiole 3-5 centimeters near the ground. Do not touch the small leaves located in the center of the outlet, let them continue to gain nutrients. Sometimes novice summer residents simply pull the sheet, hoping that it will come off. But at the same time there is a big risk that the plant will quickly break out with the roots. Cutting is usually done every two or three weeks. About a month before the expected autumn frosts, cutting greenery should be stopped to allow the sorrel to rest a bit and gain strength before wintering.
• Before the arrival of the calendar winter on the roots remaining in the garden, you can sketch out the contents of the compost pit, rotted sawdust.
• In early spring, remove old leaves on oxal rosettes, mow the stems. At this time, mineral supplements are appropriate, for each square meter a teaspoon of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium salts is added. You can use heavily diluted mullein, chicken or fermented nettle infusion.

If you want to get your own seeds from sorrel, then in the spring select a few specimens and do not cut the leaves from them during the summer season. Pinkish flowers appear around June. Seeds in panicles will ripen in July, acquiring a brownish color. Cut off the "panicles", tie them in bunches and leave for 10 days to dry and ripen. Then grind the “panicles” with your hands, while removing debris. If you store the seeds in a dry place, their germination will last for four years.

With proper care, sorrel does not cause trouble. And yet sometimes he is overcome by diseases:

1. Rust - then spots appear on the leaves and petioles, the color of which is yellowish-brown. On these spots are spore-bearing dark boxes. You can rid the plant of the disease with the help of a solution in which copper sulfate is mixed.
2. Downy mildew - spots with a grayish coating are visible on the underside of the leaf plate. It is possible to prevent the spread of the disease if, 10 days before cutting the greenery, treat the plants with Bordeaux liquid or Fitosporin.

Pests that love to eat succulent leaves are sorrel leafworm, sawfly caterpillars, and winter scoops. Then you have to spray the plants with infusions prepared using nightshade, garlic, and tomato branches. When invading aphid colonies, do regular spraying with infusions based on onion peel, burdock leaves or dandelion. It will also be useful to dust the leaf plates with ash powder. In autumn, cuts of leaves are treated with infusions of tops from potatoes or tomatoes. At the same time, you can use a phyto-remedy called "Fitoverm" or the drug "Anabasin-sulfate".

Sorrel- perennial garden plant, rich useful substances and organic acids.

Prepared from sorrel delicious soups, borscht, mashed potatoes and salads, used fresh and canned.

Consider in detail the process of growing sorrel in the garden from sowing seeds in open ground to the ripening of useful greens.

Sorrel is often planted in gardens and summer cottages. This is a cold-resistant plant that germinates calmly at a temperature of +3 -4 degrees. Varietal sorrel grows with large leaves that can be cut several times throughout the summer.

Choosing a place for planting sorrel

Sorrel- perennial plant, able to grow in one place for 5-6 years. best site for planting sorrel in the garden there will be a place in partial shade, illuminated by the soft sun in the evening. The soil must be fertile, prefers to grow on loam, is not afraid acidic soil. It is unacceptable for water to stagnate in the area where sorrel grows.

Sowing sorrel seeds into the ground can be carried out, starting from early spring until late autumn. The soil must be cleared of weeds before sowing.

spring sorrel sow in mid-April, at this time there is enough moisture for seed germination. In the summer, leaves will grow that can be cut to prepare your favorite dishes. You can cut the crop once a year of sowing.

Sorrel is sown in summer in July, after harvesting lettuce, radish, onion for greens. A high sorrel harvest can be expected only next spring.

Late sowing sorrel seeds in autumn carried out in October-November, in such a way that the seeds do not germinate before the onset of stable frosts. Sowing sorrel before winter will give a harvest next year. Such sowing is advisable on sandy soils with temperate climate(Belarus, Latvia, Estonia).

Sorrel does not need a large garden bed; up to 2 m 2 of land is enough for a good harvest. Transverse rows are formed on the site with a distance of 20 cm between them, the seeds are often poured to a depth of 1.5 cm.

To speed up the emergence of seedlings, before sowing, sorrel seeds are soaked in a damp cloth for 2 days. When sowing dry seeds, seedlings appear after 2 weeks, but covering the bed with a film, the first shoots appear after 5 days. Sorrel plantings, after the formation of 3-4 leaves, are thinned out, leaving a distance between plants of 10 cm.

Video - Sowing sorrel seeds. Planting and growing sorrel

Sorrel needs watering, especially in summer when high temperature. Without sufficient watering small leaves are formed, and the plant soon blooms, forming flower stalks.

In the spring, loosen the row spacing by adding ash and humus. In order for the leaves to appear soon, it is good to water the sorrel and cover with a film.

sorrel leaves harvest in the morning, they are juicier, cut with a knife or pluck with your hands, at a distance of 5 cm from the soil surface. Leave small leaves, let them grow further. During the summer, the sorrel crop is cut 4-5 times.

After you cut the leaves, feed the plants organic fertilizers- infusion of nettle, mullein or grass diluted with water 1 x 10 and pour abundantly.

With the mass formation of flower arrows, they stop cutting the leaves, the flower stalks are cut off so as not to weaken the plants.

A month before the onset of frost, they stop cutting the leaves so that the plants get stronger and overwinter well. It is better to cover the roots of sorrel for the winter with compost, sawdust, humus.

Propagate sorrel seeds and vegetatively. To get their sorrel seeds, flower stalks are left on 5-6 plants of the second year of life. Leaves on plants left to seed are not cut off. This amount is enough to update plantings with sorrel.

Sorrel flowering begins in May, seeds ripen in July. Panicles with seeds turn brown, they are cut, dried and rubbed with hands to collect the seeds. You can store your seeds for 4 years in a dry place.

3-4 year old plants are used for forcing.

To do this, sorrel is dug out in the fall along with a clod of earth and transferred to storage in storage with a temperature of 0-2 degrees. At the end of February, dig the plants in the greenhouse, water well and in 20-25 days you will get the first crop of succulent leaves.

If space in the greenhouse allows, you can immediately dig sorrel into the ground in the fall, which will allow you to harvest sorrel all winter.

Pests and diseases of sorrel

Observing sufficient care, sorrel is rarely affected by diseases, do not start planting and change the place of sorrel growth in a timely manner.

- sucks juices from sorrel leaves. Aphids do not like sprinkling leaves with ashes. It is impossible to carry out treatment with drugs, since the leaves are then eaten.

Carry out the main treatment against aphids in the fall, after cutting the sorrel, infusions of bitter and burning herbs- dandelions, potato or tomato tops, garlic. Also in the fall, you can treat the sorrel with the Fitoverm biopreparation.

- helps processing infusion of tomato leaves, garlic.

- a common sorrel disease, accompanied by the appearance of spots with a gray coating on reverse side leaves. Carry out processing Bordeaux mixture 10 days before cutting leaves.

You can also treat with Fitosporin, which does not contain poisons, the leaves can be consumed on the day of treatment. Also, as a preventive measure for this disease, heat treatment seeds before sowing.

- a disease on leaves and roots, yellow-brown small spots appear with dark spores on them.

Video - How to get green sorrel in August

The best varieties of sorrel

The main differences between the varieties are the shape and color of the leaves, acidity and precocity.

A common variety with spear-shaped leaves, dark green in color on a long and thin petiole. Hardy and very productive variety.

An early maturing variety with large light green oval leaves. Leaves of good taste quality, High-yielding and winter-hardy variety.

Productive, drought-resistant variety. Thin large leaves with a pleasant slightly acid taste. It tolerates winter well.

Altai sorrel

Plants with smooth, pointed leaves. In spring, the leaves are green, eventually turning reddish along with the petiole. Leaves are medium sour. The variety tolerates frost well.

An early yielding variety with delicate leaves with a pleasant taste. This common variety is well resistant to frost.

High-yielding variety with thick, large ovoid leaves. Petioles are thick and low. The variety has excellent palatability, but may freeze.

Video - Preserving sorrel - a very simple homemade recipe!

Sorrel is very useful culture, grown in summer cottages, and not only. It is possible to grow sorrel even on the window of an apartment, planting it in a sufficiently deep container for normal root development.

You learned about such a useful and fortified plant as sorrel, proper cultivation and leaving.

Big harvests to you!

Sorrel is a perennial plant that is resistant to cold. In one place, the culture can grow for 4 years, then you need to sow sorrel in another corner of the garden. Sorrel has a strong branched root that grows up to half a meter in the ground. The plant is able to withstand not only short-term frosts, but also severe frosts down to -25 ° C. Sorrel grows well on slightly acidic fertile soil.

What do we know from history?

Asia and Europe are considered the birthplace of sorrel. And now sorrel grows there very abundantly. wild plant known to people since time immemorial. There are more than 200 species of sorrel in the world.

In the 12th century, sorrel was first mentioned as a garden crop. For many years, the Russians believed that sorrel is a weed and tried their best to get rid of it. Naturally, no one used this plant for food. In the last few centuries, people began to grow sorrel in their gardens. As a vegetable crop, common sorrel is grown in vegetable gardens. In the people it is customary to call it "sour".

In Russia, many summer residents do not really like sorrel and in vain, it is advisable to take at least a small piece of fertile land to grow this vegetable crop. Sorrel is very useful for humans, it contains several acids at the same time: citric, ascorbic, oxalic and malic.

Sorrel belongs to very early and unpretentious cultures. As soon as the snow melts, and the spring sun begins to warm the earth, the first shoots appear. Already at the end of May, young leaves appear, reaching a height of 7-10 cm. They can be cut off and harvested next time in 2 weeks. They finish harvesting at the end of July, just by this time the leaves will accumulate a lot of acid and become rough, it is undesirable to eat them.

At the end of spring and during the first two summer months (in June and July), young leaves of the plant contain a lot of citric and malic acid, as well as a large number of vitamin C, potassium, iron, sugar and proteins. During this period, you need to stock up on vitamins for the winter. From sorrel, you can cook many delicious and healthy meals: cook green borscht, bake pies or a pie, make mashed potatoes or add to a salad. Sorrel can be eaten not only fresh, but also canned. All in conservation beneficial features plants are preserved.

Sorrel is popular not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine - it is used as a choleretic and blood-stopping agent, as well as for the treatment of scurvy. Doctors warn that excessive consumption of sorrel can harm a person, the kidneys will not be able to cope with large quantity acids.

Popular varieties of sorrel: Broad-leaved and Malachite. The first has a loose rosette and elongated leaves. This variety is frost tolerant and drought tolerant. Malachite ripens very early, up to 2 kg of crop can be harvested from 1m2 of area. The first harvest can be harvested 1.5 months after planting the seeds. The rosette of leaves is compact, the leaves resemble the shape of a spear.

See the photo for sorrel varieties:

On sale you can also find less popular varieties of sorrel: Spinach and Broadleaf. They are low in oxalic acid.

How to grow sorrel

Grow sorrel on suburban area very easy, you need to start with a choice suitable place. In order to receive good harvest, it is necessary to take away a wet piece of land, but only without stagnant moisture. The soil must be freed from weeds, especially the sorrel does not like the neighborhood with wheatgrass grass. Good soil is sandy loam or loam, generously fertilized with humus. Sorrel will also grow well on peat-drained soil. It is important to observe next rule: groundwater should be at a depth of 1 m from the surface of the earth. On slightly acidic soil, sorrel will also grow well and delight you with its rich harvest, and liming the soil with a pH of 4.5 is not necessary.

How to prepare the soil before planting

If you want to get a good harvest, you need to take care of the soil in advance. It must be prepared in the fall. Add 6 kg of humus and 30 g of potassium chloride and superphosphate to a pre-allocated plot of land. This amount of fertilizer is calculated for 1m 2 of land.

With the onset of spring, just before sowing sorrel, the soil must be fed with this mixture: take 2 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium salt, 4 g of superphosphate and 40 g of urea, add 3 kg of humus, mix all the components thoroughly and fertilize the soil.

Planting sorrel

When can sorrel be planted? There are no exact landing dates. If you have such an opportunity, then sorrel can be planted in early spring, and in the southern part of the country you can plant sorrel in the summer, if you have a free plot of land. At late boarding(in summer) it must be borne in mind that the plant needs to have time to sprout and take root even before the onset of cold weather. This takes 1, maximum 1.5 months. So if you have a desire, you can plant a plant today and harvest the first crop in mid-September.

Of course, if you are not going to grow sorrel for sale, but for yourself, then it is better to plant sorrel in early spring. At this time, there will be more moisture in the soil than in the middle of summer and you will not have to waste time watering.

When planting, keep in mind that the sorrel will not rise quickly. If there is very little moisture, then it can ascend unevenly, and in some places it may not “hatch” at all.

Standard landing rules:

1. Observe the distance between rows - at least 20 cm.
2. The distance between plants is 5 cm.

How to prepare seeds for planting

It is advisable to prepare the seeds before planting in advance, if you are in a hurry and you don’t have time to prepare at all, you will have to sow the seeds directly from the bag.

For those who want to get 100% germination, we offer a simple way: the seeds must be soaked in water, wrapped in gauze and left for 48 hours. During this time, they will be saturated with moisture and sprout faster.

If you want the seeds to sprout well and be strong, then you can first add a little nutrient fertilizer to plain water.

Growing sorrel from seeds

When the soil is ready, you can start planting seeds. You can buy them in specialized stores by weight (which is much cheaper) or packaged in paper bags. When buying, pay attention to the expiration date of sorrel seeds.

Before you start planting, you need to free the ground from weeds. As already mentioned earlier, landing can be carried out at any time, except for winter. In early spring, as soon as the soil is ready for cultivation (not earlier than mid-April), it's time to get to work. There is moisture in the soil, which means that the seeds will germinate well.

Pre-soaked seeds must be sown in the soil (if the soil is not moist enough, it must be well watered). The sowing depth of sorrel is 1.5 cm. The distance between rows is 20 cm, you can save money and make rows with a distance of 15 cm. There should be a free space of 5 cm between the seeds.

Sowing should be mulched with peat mixture or simply sprinkled with earth. After 2 weeks, the first shoots should appear. If you cover the bed with seeds with a film, then on the 5th day you can expect the first shoots.

As soon as the seeds sprout, it is necessary to thin out the sorrel. The distance between plants should be 10 cm. After 50 days from the moment of sowing the seeds, it will be possible to harvest the first crop.

If you sow seeds in the summer, then this can be done in mid-June or July, just after harvesting onions planted on greens or radishes. summer sorrel will have time to strengthen before the onset of frost and next year in the spring will give a good harvest.

Winter sowing can begin in October or November, taking into account that the seeds do not have time to germinate before the onset of frost. You can harvest the first crop in the spring. Please note that winter sowing does not give 100% germination, so the yield will not be very high.

Subtleties of sowing:

• it is more convenient to make grooves in the soil with a chopper, use a thick stick or a metal pin;
• make grooves with a stick, pick up seeds in your hand. Please note that they are very small;
• scatter them evenly over the furrow;
• Gently crush the seeds on top with soil. Soil layer - 1 cm, this will be enough. If the soil is heavy, then the seeds will not be able to break through.

How to care for sorrel

Despite the fact that this garden crop is considered unpretentious and frost-resistant, sorrel loves watering very much. When the air temperature reaches above 26 ° C, and the summer is dry, the rosette will develop poorly, and soon the sorrel will begin to bloom. This reduces the quality of the future crop. The plant should be watered regularly summer period. To prevent flowering, the first flower stalks should be removed as soon as possible.

In the spring, as soon as the sorrel begins to grow, it is advisable to loosen the soil and mulch. It does not hurt to fertilize, dilute 25 g of phosphorus or potash fertilizer in a bucket of water and water the soil generously.

In autumn, humus or compost must be added to the aisles. For 1 m 2 of land, 5 kg of fertilizer is taken. Just the compost is good at mulching the bare sorrel roots.

One year later, you need to pay good feeding: for 1m 2 of soil, you need to take 20 g of urea and potassium chloride and 30 g of superphosphate.

Harvest Rules

When it's harvest time, you'll guess. It is better to cut the leaves young, they will have less oxalic acid, and therefore more benefits. As soon as 4-5 leaves appear on the outlet, they can be cut off sharp knife. Step back from the surface of the earth 3-4 cm and make an even cut. Harvest carefully so as not to damage the apical buds of the sorrel. You can also pick the leaves by hand, but then be very careful not to damage the outlet.

Before you start harvesting, it is advisable to free the sorrel from weeds, and loosen the soil between the rows with a chopper. Harvest in the morning or evening. From one outlet, you can cut leaves up to 5 times.

As soon as you see that the sorrel began to throw out flower arrows, they must be cut off so that the plant does not weaken. After each such manipulation, it is necessary to add a mixture mineral fertilizers with nitrogen to further increase productivity.

In the dry season (in summer, when there is little rain), it is better to feed the sorrel liquid fertilizers and dry during rainy seasons.

As soon as 3 or 4 years have passed since the planting of sorrel, this plant will no longer be suitable for harvesting and eating. So that sorrel does not go to waste, it can be used for distillation. In autumn, the plant is dug up with earthy clod and sent to the cellar for storage. The temperature in the room should not rise above +2 ° C and fall below 0 ° C. At the end of winter, sorrel can be dug into the ground in a greenhouse and watered abundantly. After 20 days, you can harvest the first crop.

If the area of ​​​​the greenhouse is large, then you can dig in the sorrel immediately after digging up the plant. Then you can harvest in the winter.

How to deal with pests

underlying disease garden culture sorrel - mealy false dew. To prevent this disease, it is necessary to heat the seeds. In addition, the leaves are very fond of aphids. To get rid of pests, sorrel can be sprayed with a decoction of tobacco, and after harvesting the plant, destroy the remnants.

Often, when growing sorrel, many summer residents are faced with the fact that holes appear on the leaves - this is the work of the sorrel leaf beetle. It is enough to process the sorrel wood ash and this problem will be solved.

Sometimes small yellowish or brown spots. Such plants need to be cut and thrown away, and the rest should be processed with healthy sorrel.

How to grow sorrel on your site, watch this video:

Planting sorrel in the country can solve the problem of spring beriberi. This unpretentious perennial plant contains many vitamins and organic acids in its leaves and stems, which are very useful for our body. Sour leaves are usually very fond of children. Sorrel is used in the preparation of salads and first courses, pies are made with it, it is used ethnoscience. Growing sorrel is not difficult at all, it does not require much attention or special care. Even novice vegetable growers can easily grow it in the country.

Sorrel: main varieties and varieties

Sorrel is perennial plant herbaceous species, which can reach a meter height. It has a powerful root, deep in the soil, and quite large long leaves, basically assembled into one outlet at the very root. Sorrel is practically not afraid of the cold and may well begin to grow even when the temperature is at around 2-3 degrees.

The plant begins to bloom only in the second year of its life. In one place it yields no more than 4-5 years. After that, it requires a transplant to another place.

Many people like to use young leaves (they are the juiciest and have a pronounced sour taste) for making cabbage soup, borscht, pies, as an additive to salads, etc. Sorrel is rich in B vitamins (in particular B1 and B2), A, C, as well as proteins and sugars. In addition to all of the above, sorrel contains a considerable amount of various acids: malic, citric, of course, oxalic, as well as salts and iron.

There are a considerable number of varieties of sorrel. All of them are different from each other in terms of acid content, ripening rate and plant shape. Consider the most popular varieties of sorrel among gardeners ( detailed photos you can find on the internet):

• large-leaved. An early maturing variety. The leaves grow oval in shape and pale green in color. Pleasant taste, medium acidity. The variety is very productive and resistant to frost.
• Ordinary garden. One of the most popular varieties. The leaves grow pointed and dark green in color. The variety is very resistant to cold, gives an excellent harvest.
• Altaic. The leaves are smooth, sharp, grow on a straight outlet. The variety is resistant to frost.
• broad-leaved. The leaves grow quite large in size, the taste is slightly sour, tender. The variety is not afraid of drought and heat, gives a good harvest.
• Lyons. The leaves of this variety grow very large, wide, dense. Resistant to big negatives.
• Belville. Gives the leaves a slightly sour delicate taste. The harvest is early and rich. Slightly afraid of frost.

Other articles about the garden and the garden

Choosing a place for planting sorrel

To get a good harvest, you need to correctly determine the location of the crop. For sorrel, this is a slightly shaded place, quiet and partially illuminated by warm sunlight, with humid fertile soil, but always without stagnant water in the garden. The best soils under sorrel, drained peat, sandy loam and loam with humus are considered. Also, check the level ground water, in the region of one meter, and for the acidity of the soil - pH 4.5-5.

How to prepare the soil before planting sorrel

If you want to get a good harvest, you need to take care of the soil in advance. It must be prepared in the fall. Add 6 kg of humus and 30 g of potassium chloride and superphosphate to a pre-allocated plot of land. This amount of fertilizer is calculated per 1m2 of land.

With the onset of spring, just before sowing sorrel, the soil must be fed with this mixture: take 2 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium salt, 4 g of superphosphate and 40 g of urea, add 3 kg of humus, mix all the components thoroughly and fertilize the soil.

Sowing sorrel

Sorrel is sown on beds 12 cm high. In autumn, manure or compost (6-8 kg), superphosphate (30-40 g) and potassium chloride (20-30 g). In spring, for sowing, 4-6 kg of manure or compost, 2-2.5 g of ammonium nitrate, 3-4 g of superphosphate, 1-2 g of potassium salt are applied per 1 sq.m of area. You can make urea (20 g per 1 sq.m). Before sowing, the soil must be free of weeds.

Sorrel is sown in early spring, summer or before winter. In the spring, they begin to sow as soon as the soil is ripe for processing (April 15-20). At this time in top layer enough soil moisture, which ensures the friendly germination of seeds. Seeds must have a two-year shelf life.

Articles for gardeners

Before sowing, they are soaked for two days. Sow in moist soil at a depth of 1.5 cm, at a distance of 15 cm between rows and 4-5 cm between seeds in a row. Sowing is best mulched with peat. Shoots usually appear 2 weeks after sowing seeds. If you cover the bed before germination plastic wrap, then shoots appear in 3-5 days. After germination, the plants are thinned at a distance of 10 cm from each other. With early spring sowing, the crop is obtained in the same year.

In summer, they sow in June-July after harvesting the early vegetable crops(radish, lettuce, onion for greens). When sown in summer, sorrel has time to strengthen well before winter and gives high yield next spring.

Podzimny sowing carry out late autumn(October-November) so that the seeds do not germinate before the onset of stable frosts. Harvest can be obtained next year. You need to know that when sowing before winter, seedlings often fall out, as a result, the harvest is low. Podzimny sowing is advisable on sandy soils in areas with a temperate climate (Estonia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia).

Care for sorrel crops

Regular loosening of the soil, weed control, watering and fertilizing - this is the main care for young plants. With insufficient soil moisture, the leaf rosette develops poorly, and the plant blooms early, and this has a bad effect on the quality of the leaves. Emerging flower stalks must be removed immediately so as not to reduce the quality of the future crop.

The green mass must be completely cut off a month before the onset of frost. If this is not done, then the leaves will lie under the snow in a dense layer, and block the access of air to the roots. This may cause the death of the plant.

To increase subsequent yields every time after the leaves are cut, you need to feed the plant. For this, a mixture of mineral fertilizers is used, where most are nitrogenous. If the weather is dry, then fertilizers are applied in liquid form; in rainy weather, you can use dry ones.

Diseases and pests of sorrel

Downy mildew - spots appear on the back of the leaves with gray coating. To combat the disease, the leaves are sprayed 10 days before cutting with Bordeaux mixture. Or treat with a phytosporin biological product. The instructions say that you can use the product on the day of processing, there are no poisons there.

Rust - when this disease is affected, small yellow-brown spots appear on the leaves and petioles of sorrel, and dark spores appear on them.

Articles for gardeners

Sorrel aphid - sucks the juices from the plant. You can not process the leaves, as they are then eaten. You can water it in the fall after cutting with some infusion of bitter, burning herbs - tomato or potato tops, dandelions, garlic. Also, aphids do not like sprinkling leaves with ashes. Or treat plantings in the fall with a biopreparation from fitoverm pests.

Beetles and larvae of the sorrel leafworm and caterpillar of the sawfly. Spraying with infusions of garlic, tomatoes, nightshade helps well.

At good care, a fairly rare planting of sorrel is rarely affected by diseases. It is necessary not to run it to the wild, to change the place in time.

Harvesting sorrel

Harvesting of sorrel occurs at the moment when the plants form 4-5 medium leaves. Fresh green leaves are cut with a sharp knife, at a distance of several centimeters from the soil level. In the process, the main thing is not to damage the apical buds of the plant so that the sorrel can give birth further.

After each cut of the leaves, the plants are fed so that they do not weaken, the soil is watered and mulched.