Preparing for winter planting
Before winter planting sorrel, the first thing to do is choose a place for the garden bed. Sorrel is unpretentious in this regard, but on fertile soil and with proper care the harvest will be much larger.
Sorrel grows best in sandy or loamy terrain, in partial shade from trees.
As a perennial plant, sorrel needs a weed-free space for normal development, so you need to take care of cleanliness from such pests in advance. The bed should not be adjacent to groundwater, although the plant itself is quite moisture-loving.
The soil for planting needs to be loose, easily permeable to water, so the bed is dug deep and all other plants are removed from the soil. Then fertilizers are applied (per 1 sq. m):
- 1 bucket of compost or light humus;
- half a bucket of peat;
- 30 g superphosphate;
- 20 g of potassium chloride;
- 10 g ammonium nitrate.
Peat is added to increase the acidity of the soil - sorrel prefers a low pH level.
Furrows about 3 cm deep with a distance of 20-30 cm between rows are formed along or across the bed. Before sowing, the finished bed is covered with film to avoid disturbances. To fill the furrows after sowing, you will need loose soil mixed with humus, dry leaves or other analogues of mulch materials.
Before planting, sorrel seeds can be prepared by soaking and keeping them in gauze for two days. It is also possible to treat with a special nutrient composition to increase the likelihood of a larger harvest. Seeds with a two-year shelf life are considered optimal for sowing.
What to do if phlox freezes in winter?
If for some reason your flowers could not successfully overwinter, then you can try to save them. We recommend saving phloxes in the following way: use a sharp knife to cut out the middle of the bush, making the edge of the bush 2-4 cm thick.
And fill the middle of the bush with a universal nutrient substrate (fertile soil) and treat it with Epin. This method stimulates dormant buds and promotes the resuscitation of phlox.
- We hope this method will help, and phlox will make you happy again!
Variety selection
To plant sorrel before winter, proven varieties are used that consistently produce high yields and are resistant to low temperatures. These varieties include:
- Broadleaf. Quite a new variety, but it has already managed to win the trust of gardeners. It ripens early, is distinguished by large oval leaves on high petioles and a reduced level of oxalic acid, which makes it an optimal variety for various vitamin salads. The downside of this variety is the frequent appearance of shoots when there is a lack of moisture in the summer.
- Emerald snow. High-yielding, mid-season, characterized by a high content of substances beneficial to the human body. The shooter does not give for a long time. The taste is very pleasant, which makes it widely used in cooking.
- Belleville. A variety known to gardeners for a long time. Well resistant to frost, rich in vitamins. Due to the large size of the leaves, from 1 sq. m of beds, you can collect up to 7 kg of crop per season.
- Malachite. It also stands out for its resistance to low temperatures and rapid ripening of greenery. A distinctive feature of this sorrel is its leaves, which are especially beautiful, which is not typical for other varieties.
- Odessa. Ripens early and is often used in soups and salads. The leaves are dark green in color and form loose rosettes that grow at right angles.
The seeds of these sorrel varieties are excellent for sowing before winter and have high quality and taste characteristics.
We recommend reading this article, which will tell you about growing some of the presented varieties of sorrel in a greenhouse.
Some features when growing sorrel
Despite the fact that the crop is perennial, it is worth changing the planting site every 2-3 years, otherwise the foliage will gradually become smaller and the amount of valuable nutrients in it will decrease.
This herbaceous plant can be grown from early spring to late autumn, each gardener decides for himself when to plant sorrel, before winter or in spring, each period has its own advantages, but it is winter sowing that can provide the family with early vitamin greens, so necessary after the winter months.
Terms and conditions of sowing
Sorrel is a cold-resistant crop, so it is planted in the fall after stable night frosts have established - usually the end of October or the beginning of November, a lot depends on the region. When calculating the time for planting sorrel, it is worth considering that at +2°C it may begin to hatch.
In the northern regions of the country, the average time for sorrel sowing in autumn is mid-to-late October, for the middle zone it is the end of October and mid-November, for the southern regions - until mid-December.
Sorrel is planted in cold or already frozen soil, so it is important to prepare the beds in advance while it is still warm.
Phlox after winter: care in spring
In the spring after winter, phloxes (subulate, paniculate) need some care. Phlox after winter in spring often looks unattractive and needs our help to restore its decorative appearance.
- Feeding plays a very important role in caring for phlox in the spring (the first of five for the entire season).
FEEDING. In the spring, after the snow has melted (late March-early April), phloxes are watered with a weak solution of humate or complex granular fertilizer.
This feeding allows you to accelerate the growth and development of the phlox root system after winter.
MULCHING. Simultaneously with fertilizing in the spring, it is recommended to loosen the soil and mulch with fertile soil.
If there is no soil, you can use compost; in extreme cases, sprinkle chopped grass in a layer of 3-4 cm, and a little sand on top.
TRIM. In the spring, only dry shoots (!) are pruned from phloxes. Trimming phlox in the spring to give it a supposedly more decorative appearance often results in a lack of flowering.
Indeed, after winter, phlox have unattractive shoots with green chanterelles only at the tips, but it is better to feed them and mulch them.
- Full pruning of phlox can be done only after flowering (in summer), when flower buds are laid and young shoots grow. Then they cut the tops and cut off the faded flower stalks.
INTERESTING ON THE TOPIC:
1. FLOWERS OF OCTOBER: WHICH ARE THEIR BEAUTY?
2. PREPARING HOSTA FOR WINTER: ALL THE SECRETS!
Now you know how to prepare phloxes for winter and how to care for them in the spring after winter, and you don’t have to worry about their condition.
We wish you beautiful phloxes and a great mood!
Features of planting in autumn
When planting, sorrel seeds must be completely dried. The film is removed from the bed, often there is already a layer of snow on it, and sowing begins.
The bottom (of the furrows prepared in advance) is covered with mulch 1 cm deep, and seeds are laid on it. For winter sowing, more seeds are taken than for sowing at any other time of the year - by a quarter/third. The optimal distance for seeds is 4 cm, this figure is taken taking into account the probability of seedlings falling out; if necessary, sorrel can be easily thinned out in the spring.
Cover the bed with mulch; in dry weather the plant does not need more protection. If there is rain, the sorrel is covered with film. This planting provides the plant with all the conditions for normal development in the spring.
Although sorrel is a perennial plant, it is better to change the place for the bed with it every couple of years. This way its leaves will not become small and will maintain a high level of vitamins.
When to plant sorrel before winter
It is difficult to determine the most appropriate time to sow sorrel. It can be sown in early spring when the soil warms up to 3°C, as well as in summer and autumn. Early spring sowing is attractive because the harvest can be harvested already this season, and the germination rate of such seeds is high.
When sowing in summer (in June-July), the humidity regime must be observed: seedlings take a long time to germinate, and if the soil dries out, they may not be able to wait at all. In this case, the harvest is harvested next year.
Many gardeners prefer to sow sorrel in late autumn (November). In this case, the seeds should not have time to germinate before the onset of stable frosts. The disadvantage of winter sowing is considered to be the loss of seedlings (uneven germination of seeds), which means a decrease in the yield of sorrel. Therefore, when laying beds, you should not save on seed material.
To harvest a sufficient amount of harvest, increase the rate of winter sowing by 30-50%
Care and cultivation
In the spring, when the first shoots of sorrel appear, the bed needs to be thinned out - it is enough to leave 5 cm between adult plants. After 2 weeks, the procedure is repeated - now the distance is increased by 2-3 times. They weed and loosen between the rows, promptly removing flowering shoots - to obtain seeds, it is enough to leave a couple of shoots.
Water sorrel abundantly, but infrequently. Proper watering is very important for this plant; the taste of sorrel leaves depends on it - with a lack of moisture, a lot of oxalic acid is formed in the leaves, which makes them too sour and they become coarse.
By autumn, bare rhizomes require mulching - per 1 square meter. m of beds add about 5 kg of humus or compost.
In the second spring, sorrel needs feeding - 30 g of superphosphate, 20 g of urea and 15 g of potassium chloride will be enough.
Caring for sorrel on your site
Sorrel needs a little care to allow it to develop normally. In particular, after planting the plant you need:
- loosen the soil and remove weeds from the ground between the rows (due to extraneous grass, sorrel will not be able to grow normally).
- feed the plant regularly.
- A month and a half before the ground freezes, the sorrel must be cut off. If this is not done, the leaves will become limp and fall to the ground, thereby blocking the access of oxygen to the root system.
- In the fall you need to fertilize the rows with compost.
Regularity of watering
Although sorrel is considered an unpretentious and frost-resistant plant, it loves frequent watering. On days when the air temperature exceeds 26°C, the plant develops poorly and gradually fades. Naturally, this reduces the quality of the crop. To prevent this from happening, the sorrel needs to be watered regularly. During dry periods, it is well filled with water, but care must be taken that the liquid does not stagnate. Overdried soil leads to the throwing out of flower stalks. The need to water sorrel before winter disappears by itself.
Weeding and loosening the soil
An important aspect of crop care is timely loosening and weeding of the soil. To minimize such work, make it a rule to mulch the soil around the sorrel after each watering; this will prevent the spread of weeds. In spring, it is necessary to loosen the soil between the rows. At the same time, fertilize the sorrel with a mixture of humus and ash; it will help stimulate the growth of new leaves.
Mulching and fertilizing sorrel
Mulching and fertilization are very important for the life of the described plant. Knowing how to feed sorrel to grow, you will provide yourself with a rich harvest. Thus, mineral fertilizers with superphosphate, potassium chloride and urea are excellent as useful compounds. Also, nitrogen fertilizers will be useful, as they will strengthen the stems and increase the volume of the plant.
Harvesting
Sorrel matures completely within 2 months from the time of sowing, that is, if you sowed sorrel in the spring, you can harvest it in early summer. However, if you sow it earlier, for example in the fall, it will grow immediately after the snow melts.
Sorrel greens are cut or torn off, but keep in mind that it is better to leave the middle leaves: they are not as large as the neighboring ones and a new crop can be grown from them. The best time to harvest the plant is early in the morning as the leaves are at their juiciest at this time.
When is the harvest harvested?
Sorrel is harvested when the plant has 4-5 leaves of the standard size for its variety. The season for sorrel is May-July, during this period you can harvest up to 4 times. The best time of day to collect is morning or late evening; ripe leaves are cut with a knife, leaving about 4 cm from the bed in the petiole.
After each sorrel harvest, the soil needs to be fed, mulched and watered.
Planting sorrel in the fall is not a difficult task, especially considering the unpretentiousness of this plant. If you follow the simple rules of sowing, caring and harvesting, a rich harvest will not be long in coming. All that remains is to choose the desired variety and make all the necessary preparations - then anyone can enjoy the full taste of sorrel.
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How to deal with diseases and pests of sorrel
Although the leaves of sorrel are quite sour, they are still attacked by pests. For example, if you find holes in a plant, changes in leaf color, cessation of growth and drying out, you can begin to think about the appearance of parasites. Control of sorrel pests involves timely care of the beds, destruction of weeds, plant shoots and mulching of the soil.
You can resort to the services of modern plant care products.
Undoubtedly, they will help to quickly get rid of annoying pests, but they will also slightly spoil the taste of sorrel. Therefore, it is recommended to treat the plant in early autumn rather than during the harvest season.
The main enemy of sorrel is the sorrel leaf beetle. As the name suggests, this parasite eats the leaves of the plant. If such bugs appear in the garden bed, they begin to actively reproduce, laying larvae in the ground. Within a few weeks, adult and stronger individuals eat the leaves and everything repeats. So how can you treat sorrel for holes? For these purposes, it is best to use traditional methods. Spray the plant with ash, a solution of garlic and laundry soap, or tobacco dust.
Well, now you know everything about planting sorrel and can independently determine for yourself in which month it is better to sow sorrel and how to care for it.
Benefits of sorrel
Sorrel is rich in minerals (potassium, iron), proteins, sugars, organic acids (oxalic, malic, citric), contains vitamin C and carotene. In traditional medicine, sorrel is used as a choleretic, hemostatic agent; the juice of the plant has an antiseptic effect, improves metabolism, and normalizes the functioning of the stomach. You should not overuse it, as acids can have a negative effect on the kidneys.
Fresh sorrel leaves are used in the preparation of salads, sauces, purees, and everyone’s favorite “green borscht”; it retains its beneficial properties both fresh and canned.
Choosing a place to plant sorrel
Sorrel
- a perennial plant, capable of growing in one place for 5-6 years. The best site for planting sorrel in the garden will be a place in partial shade, illuminated by soft sun in the evening. The soil must be fertile, prefers to grow on loam, and is not afraid of acidic soil. It is unacceptable for water to stagnate in the sorrel growing area.
