How to plant sorrel in the spring? Principles of cultivation

In the spring, one of the first to appear on the beds is sorrel. This perennial, very resistant to frost and unpretentious in growing, provides us with early tender greens, rich in various vitamins (such as A, B and C), several kinds of acids and trace elements, among which a very large percentage is iron and potassium. Sorrel in the spring is able not only to fill the need of the organism, starved for useful substances in the winter, but also to tone it.

Green borsch, cabbage soup, vegetable purees, pie filling - this is not a complete list of what is prepared from sorrel. It is not only tasty, but also useful. Virtually there is no such gardener who does not have a treasured garden bed with the earliest greens.

Growth conditions

Even those who do not know how to plant sorrel and how to care for it, having familiarized themselves with the basic rules, grow it will be very easy. You should know that you can not grow sorrel in one place for more than 4 years, and then you need to pick up a new one.

To collect a good crop as early as possible, beds are placed on fertile soil, timely watered and thoroughly weed. And we need to pay attention to a weed such as wheatgrass, which prevents the normal growth of sorrel, and immediately remove it.

Loamy, peaty and slightly acidic soils are excellent for growing this greenery. The beds can be located in the penumbra - such conditions sorrel tolerates normally, and even its greens remain longer and juicy for longer.

When to sow sorrel

Those who want to constantly have fresh greens, you can sow sorrel three times per season - early spring, summer (June, July) and late autumn, before the beginning of cold weather.

• Early spring sowing begins as soon as the soil is ready for cultivation. Harvest can be had in the same season.
• Planting sorrel in the summer is favorable in June-July. It is very well fortified to the cold, and already early in the spring gives the first shoots.
• Under winter, the seeds are planted at the end of October or early November, so that before the cold weather they did not have time to germinate. With such a planting in the spring, too, you can get an early harvest.

Sowing sorrel

Beforehand, the seeds of sorrel should be soaked in water before planting. But you can not do this.

The bed should be thoroughly digged, because the sorrel on it will grow 3-4 years. For a better growth, a fertilizer is applied, which includes humus (half a bucket), urea (1 teaspoon) and nitrophosphate (2 tablespoons).

• On the loosened bed, grooves are made 1 cm deep and seeds are covered in them. The distance between them should be 5-10 cm.
• On top, seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer of earth and lightly pressed against the back of the palm.
• The planting of sorrel ends with irrigation, and the land is not moistened very much, and it is better to use rainwater for this.
• If the bed is covered with a film of polyethylene, shoots can be expected in 4-5 days. In the open bed sorrel will germinate in 2 weeks.
• When the shoots appear, they need to be weeded out, leaving a distance of at least 5 cm between the bush.

Care instructions

Knowing how to plant sorrel, take care of it even easier. The main requirements are the timely loosening of rows, weeding and watering. If necessary, thinned plants should be thinned, leaving a distance of 5 cm between them.

In order for the crop to be abundant, it is recommended to feed the sorrel with a liquid mixture of mineral fertilizers each time after pruning the leaves, in which nitrogen should predominate.

In autumn, it is necessary to fertilize the beds with compost or humus at the rate of 2 buckets per 1 sq. Km. M, and in the second year of planting again doing the same additional fertilizing.

Harvesting

Having become acquainted with how to plant sorrel and how to care for it, it remains to learn how to harvest. It would seem that nothing complicated in this, but there are some subtleties, paying attention to which, you can ensure a good harvest all season.

Collect the leaves of sorrel can from May, during the summer and until autumn. Before they begin to tear down, the bed should be weeded, and after the harvesting the loosening of rows between rows.

You should know that the most suitable time for collection is when the sorrel has formed a rosette consisting of at least five leaves. They are very carefully cut at a height of 4 cm from the ground, so as not to damage the growth point (apical buds). During the season, usually take 4 crops. On average, it can be about 2 kg from 1 square. M.

As soon as the sorrel starts to form arrows, the harvesting of the leaves stops, and the arrows are mowed.

In order to have this source of vitamins and minerals on your table in the winter, sorrel can be frozen (and this is the simplest way of harvesting) or canned. The recipes of these methods are uncomplicated, and you can always choose the one that suits you.

Now, knowing how to plant sorrel, and making sure that it is very easy to grow, probably even those who ignore this source of fresh greens will want to plant it on their beds.

To grow sorrel is to get a crop of a plant rich in vitamins and minerals, which, moreover, has a pleasant taste.