Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-303
Common Sorrel
Rumex acetosa
Common Sorrel's lemon-sour leaves are the reason to grow it - raw or cooked in salads, pureed into soup, or dried for storage - and the same plant also yields edible flowers, a cooked root, a bread-flour seed, and a leaf juice strong enough to curdle milk as a rennet substitute. Its hardiness tops out well short of a hot summer, so rather than the long-lived perennial the books describe, it behaves best as a cool-season crop that bolts and turns bitter once nights stay warm, best resown each autumn rather than nursed through summer. Its leaves carry enough oxalic acid to bind calcium and aggravate arthritis, gout and kidney stones, so eat them sparingly rather than daily, and cook them to cut the oxalate load.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–7
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7.5
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 18–24 in
- Mature spread
- 18–24 in
- Plant spacing
- 8 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
Adzuki is the odd one out among the beans in this group: a very hot summer is actively too hot for it, since heat above about 35C damages…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–11
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Angelica
Angelica archangelica
Angelica is a very large, short-lived umbellifer grown for its candied stem and aromatic root - the thick young stalks are peeled and boiled…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–7
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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