Sorrel

Start seed indoors three weeks before your last frost, or direct sow early spring

Start sorrel seed indoors about three weeks before your last frost date, or direct seed it in the garden in early spring. Set or thin the mature plants at least a foot apart, and move indoor-started seedlings out after your frost-free date. Sorrel is hardy into zone 3 and does its best growing in cool weather, so seed sown while the soil is still cold gives you leaves during the plant's natural early-spring surge rather than during summer heat.

Soak deeply, about an inch a week

Through the growing season, soak the soil thoroughly rather than sprinkling it, giving at least an inch of water a week. Adjust for your rainfall and soil type, since sandy ground dries out faster than heavy ground. Steady soil moisture is what carries good leaf production through the season, and a deep soak reaches the whole root zone instead of only wetting the surface.

Divide the clump in spring when it outgrows its space

If the clump has thrived and is spreading past the room you gave it, lift and divide it in spring, and use the pieces to start new plants elsewhere. Sorrel is a perennial that widens from the crown year after year, but it is not as long-lived as rhubarb, so splitting a crowded clump both resets its vigor and keeps a supply of younger, more productive plants coming.

Cut off seed stalks as they rise

As soon as a flower stalk pushes up from the center of the clump, cut it out at the base, just as you would with rhubarb. Keep checking through the season, because a clump will try again. Once sorrel commits to flowering it moves its energy into the seed stalk instead of into new leaves, and leaf production falls off for the rest of the season.

Check for snails and slugs on the new spring leaves

Snails and slugs chew soft leafy growth like sorrel's. Hunt them after dark with a flashlight and hand pick into a sealed bag, and clear the boards, stones and dense cover they shelter under. Watering by drip, or near sunrise, cuts the humidity and moist surfaces they need. If you bait, use an iron phosphate bait. Sorrel puts out soft, tender growth in the cool wet weather of early spring, which is exactly the moment slugs and snails are most active and the leaves are least able to outgrow the chewing.

⚠ Choose iron phosphate baits, which are safer around children, domestic animals, birds, fish and other wildlife. Avoid metaldehyde baits, which are particularly poisonous to dogs and cats and whose pellets can be attractive to dogs; never get metaldehyde bait on plants, especially vegetables. Sprinkle bait on the soil near, but not on, the plants — this is a leaf crop often eaten raw. Always read the pesticide label before applying and follow its directions.

Pick leaves young, and keep picking until frost

Pick individual leaves as soon as they reach usable size, and keep picking any time from early spring until frost kills the top growth. Take the young, tender leaves for salads and other uncooked dishes, and save the older, coarser ones for cooking, which softens the tartness. Leaves keep refrigerated about two weeks, or freeze them. Sorrel is one of the first greens ready in spring, and young leaves are much more tender than older ones, so picking steadily keeps tender new growth coming from the crown.

⚠ Sorrel contains a significant amount of oxalic acid, which may be a problem for people with certain health conditions.