Growing Sorrel
I love this plant.
Sour Apple / Lemon Taste
Where else can you get the taste of sour apple/lemon without having an apple tree? Put a few of these leaves in a salad and watch the delight of your guests (go easy – just a few go a long way to bring life to tired salads.) I’m not a fan of French sorrel soup but then again, maybe I haven’t found the right recipe.
Growing Sorrel
You can treat your growing sorrel as an annual or as a perennial.
Start the seed indoors about the middle of March for an early-May transplanting outdoors. Put two to three seeds in small cell packs or jiffy pots – barely cover the seed with soil and you should see seedlings in 7-10 days if you keep the soil at 70F. Thin the seedlings to two per pot and grow in full sunlight and cool 60F temperatures to stop them from getting leggy.
Shady Outdoors
Grow outdoors in a part shade location for the best taste. Stressing the plant turns the taste bitter and not overly pleasant.
Excess heat will also make the plant “bolt” to seed so cut off these seed heads – this will force the plant to make new leaves rather than seeds. If the plant does set seed – don’t worry. When the weather cools down in the fall, it will start producing new leaves again.
Keep harvesting regularly to keep leaf production coming along. Pick the side leaves until the plant is growing strongly. Overwintered plants can be divided in early spring.
I have grown the ‘Profusion’ variety (that does not set seed) quite successfully rather than the seed generated plant and would recommend it for all your growing sorrel garden experiments.
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