Easy Gardening – Red Veined Sorrel

I’m a great believer that good gardening is easy gardening.  This could be because I’m lazy and I’m certainly short of time to spend in the garden.  But surely, working with nature, rather than fighting against it is best, and the plants which thrive in your garden are the ones that most belong there.

A few years ago, I bought a pot of red-veined sorrel at a farmers market.  I transferred the plant to a bigger pot, added a few leaves to a salad every so often, then completely neglected the plant over the winter.  But then the plant seeded itself in the garden, popping up in several places, and generally thriving like a weed.  Not only that, but the slugs seem to leave it alone.

Now all of that seems to me like the peak of gardening success.  And this sorrel has the added advantage of being an attractive plant wherever it chooses to settle.

The young sorrel leaves have a lemony, lettuce like flavour and look good in a mixed leaf salad, while older, more bitter leaves, can be cooked like spinach.  Nutritionally, sorrel provide vitamin C and iron, so more than worth the (non) effort involved!