Sorrel

Plant family

Knotweed family (Polygonaceae)

Season Overview

Details

Light requirement

Sunny

Water requirement

Wet

Soil

Heavy (clay)

Nutrient requirement

Medium

Light germinator

Seeding distance

10 cm

Row spacing

25 cm

Seeding depth

0 cm

Instructions

Description

The meadow sorrel, sour sorrel, sour lump (Saxony) or Suurampfere (Switzerland), belongs to the knotweed family (Polygonaceae). It is grown as a wild vegetable or medicinal plant. It grows up to 1 m tall and is herbaceous, perennial and hardy. The taste is sourish and somewhat bitter. It blooms from May and should be

Growing tips

Sowing is done from mid-March in the spring or in August for a harvest next year. Should not be consumed in large quantities, as it contains a lot of oxalic acid. Divide for rejuvenation and propagation after a few years, but sorrel also propagates easily by itself in the garden. Cut back three times a year, leaving the inner leaves but removing the flowering shoots, this will result in a higher and more consistent crop. The leaves can be harvested continuously, but preferably individually, by plucking or cutting them off, but the oxalic acid content increases sharply from mid-June.