Red veined sorrel (Rumex sanguineus) is one of those garden plants that’s good tasting as well as a good looker.
French sorrel and common garden sorrel are cousins of red veined sorrel and grown much the same way. They’re also versatile, but are slightly more tangy than red veined sorrel and are bright green from tip to tail.
Red veined sorrel has pointed, bright lime-green leaves with dark red veins. Leaves are best harvested when young and used raw in salads for their tangy, hint of citrus flavor.
They may be harvested as a baby leaf and used in salads, but can also be harvested when mature and makes a great alternative to spinach. Sorrel works well as an accompaniment to fish, meat and egg dishes, and as an ingredient in soup and gratins. Leaves may also be added raw to dishes.
Sometimes referred to as “Raspberry Dressing” sorrel, red veined sorrel is gorgeous, hardy, and thrives no matter where you plant it. Consequently, you can practically ignore red veined sorrel and it will still produce beautiful leaves that are wonderful in anything calling for a leafy green.
As a medicinal plant, red veined sorrel is loaded with vitamin C, a water-soluble vitamin that fights inflammation and plays a key role in immune function. It’s also high in fiber, which can help stabilize blood sugar levels as well as promote regularity.
Sorrel is a nice source of antioxidants, which are beneficial compounds that protect your cells from damage by neutralizing harmful free radicals.
As a bonus, red veined sorrel is packed with magnesium, a mineral that’s essential for bone and heart health.
Sorrel is available both fresh and dried at many specialty stores and online retailers.
Here’s how you grow it:
Exposure/Soil
Grow sorrel in a sunny or partially-shady spot, in a fertile and moisture-retentive soil. Partial shade is better in hot summer climates like Arizona’s lower deserts. If your native soil is the hard, alkaline type, it’s best to mulch the soil first before dropping in the transplants. You might also want to give your soil a boost by working in worm castings.
Getting Started
Red veined Sorrel can be grown from seed, but as a perennial plant, you could also take a rooted cutting or a division from an existing plant.
Sow sorrel seeds in spring, a few in small pots filled with seed compost, cover and water well. Sorrel seeds will take up to six weeks to germinate. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, pot them up into individual containers. You can grow them in containers, or plant out later into borders.
An alternative to starting the seeds in pots is to work them directly into your garden one to two weeks before your last average spring frost or when soil temperatures are about 50F (10C).
You can scatter sow (sprinkle seeds throughout your planting space, or simply place seeds 1 to 3 inches apart. Cover seeds with 1/4 inch layer of soil and press them into the soil, ensuring seeds make good contact. Water gently.
You can expect sprouts to emerge in about five to 10 days.
Maintenance
This is a hardy plant that requires normal watering. Sorrel will tolerate some drought, but for maximum production keep the soil evenly moist. Trim outer leaves as they emerge. Eventually you may want to move smaller plants around your garden where they’ll have more room to develop.
Over the course of a year or two, they can become quite large, averaging 2 feet by 2 feet in size. It’s OK to move plants around if they begin to crowd each other. Just dig deeply around the root zone in order to capture the entire root system. You may also want to give freshly transplanted red veined sorrel plants a dose of liquid seaweed.
Like any green leafy vegetable, red veined sorrel will grow better with a good supply of nitrogen. That said, fertilizing isn’t necessary because it will grow in almost any soil.
Harvesting
These plants respond to harvesting. The more you pick the more they grow. One or two plants easily provides plenty of greens to supplement salads and other dishes for families.
Sorrel is ready to harvest when the leaves are about 4 inches long. Tender leaves are best for eating, and if you harvest as cut-and-come-again, you will have a steady supply of young, edible leaves.
Cut-and-come-again gardening refers to harvesting just the older outer leaves of leafy green vegetables and allowing the center of the plant to continue sending out new leaves. It’s an easy way to have a succession of harvests without having to succession plant.
Additionally, cut-and-come-again gardening prevents the leaves from becoming bitter.
