How to plant sorrel?
Many people use sorrel for food. Sorrel leaves contain the potassium salt of oxalic acid. Therefore, the leaves of the plant have a sour taste.
It also contains a rich set of minerals. To provide yourself with this plant rich in vitamins, you need to think about growing it. This is what will be discussed.
Sorrel is a perennial plant. Therefore, you need to carefully prepare the soil for planting sorrel. Sorrel needs light soil. If there is no such soil, drainage can be done. It is advisable to remove all weeds from the area where the sorrel will be planted, as they interfere with the growth of the plant.
In the fall, they begin to prepare the soil for planting sorrel in open ground. The first step is to fertilize it. Manure is used for this (five to seven kilograms per square meter), superphosphate (thirty-five grams), potassium chloride (twenty-five grams). It is permissible to use compost instead of manure. Then the earth needs to be dug up. In the spring, this soil is fertilized with urea.
Sorrel grows best in partial shade as it loves light, but does not tolerate the sun well. It grows well in soil after crops such as cabbage and radishes, parsley and beets, carrots and celery.
Sorrel can be grown from spring to fall. You can plant it already in April. The soil is still wet this month and therefore the seeds can be planted dry. Such seeds will yield a harvest by the middle of summer.
In summer, it will be very good to plant sorrel in the ground after some early greenery. If sorrel sits in June or July, then the harvest should be expected next spring. In summer, swollen seeds are usually planted, or those that have already sprouted.
In autumn, sorrel is sown in October or early November. It is necessary to monitor the dryness of the seeds. Otherwise, they will begin to germinate before winter.
When planted in open ground, sorrel seeds are immersed in the soil one to two centimeters deep. The distance between the rows is maintained at about thirty centimeters. After planting sorrel seeds, it is recommended to compact the soil, so the harvest will be better.
After the sorrel seeds have sprouted, they need to be thinned out. For the first time, a distance of about five centimeters is left between the bushes. The second time, the distance should be about twelve to fifteen centimeters.
The care of the planted sorrel seeds is traditional. It consists in loosening the soil, in abundant watering, but not frequent, in weeding from weeds, in feeding with urea. You need to pay attention to the peduncles: they are cut off if you do not plan to leave your seeds, since part of the food goes to them.
Powdery mildew is one of the common sorrel diseases. Appears on leaves. In order to deal with it, you need to: pour the ashes (one third of the bucket) with water (two thirds of the bucket) and leave for three or four days to brew. After that, the solution must be filtered. Further, the resulting solution can be sprayed on the plants.
Sorrel is harvested when the leaves reach a length of about eight centimeters. Usually, the entire crop is cut off at once, so that there is an opportunity to loosen the ground and feed. The sorrel is cut for the first time after three weeks, after the soil has thawed.
You can harvest sorrel three to five times per season using the pruning method. The last cut should be made a month before frost. This is necessary so that the sorrel can gain strength before winter.
You can transplant sorrel, he tolerates it quite easily. You need to prepare the soil as you would when planting sorrel seeds. Next, you need to select strong and young plants. Large leaves are cut off from them (carefully with the buds).
The plant is dug up.When pruning the root, it can be powdered with activated charcoal (crushed). After that, the sorrel is planted in a new prepared place and watered. The best time to transplant sorrel is early fall.
Grow sorrel, harvest and enjoy the flavors.