Myths About Growing Sorrel in Scotland

“Sorrel leaves are just a salad green, so there's no limit on how much you should eat”

Common sorrel is harmful if eaten in large amounts, and gloves are recommended when handling it. Its sharp, citrusy tang comes from oxalic acid, which is why it's normally eaten in smaller quantities than a typical salad leaf.

What to do: Use sorrel as a flavouring or accent leaf, the way it's traditionally treated in soups, sauces and small salad portions, rather than as a bulk salad green eaten in the quantities you'd use for lettuce or spinach.

“Sorrel is drought-tolerant once established, like thyme or rosemary”

Dry weather is itself a bolting trigger for sorrel, and it prefers fertile, moisture-retentive soil rather than free-draining ground.

What to do: Keep sorrel well watered, particularly in dry spells, rather than treating it like thyme or rosemary and leaving it to fend for itself once established.

In Scotland: Sorrel's moisture preference is a genuine match for damp Scottish ground, the same pattern already found for lovage.

“Sorrel needs winter protection outdoors, like some more tender herbs”

All three sorrel types are hardy throughout the UK, and common sorrel specifically carries an H7 hardiness rating on its individual plant page, hardy in the severest European continental winters below -20C.

What to do: Skip winter protection for ground-grown sorrel entirely. Only container plants need moving somewhere sheltered, and even then the concern is winter waterlogging causing root rot, not cold.

In Scotland: H7 is among the hardiest ratings a crop can carry, a genuinely low-risk pick for an exposed Scottish garden.

“Sorrel self-seeds so aggressively that once you plant it, it will spread out of control through the bed”

Sorrel does self-sow readily once it's allowed to flower and set seed, but it only spreads by seed, not by running roots or rhizomes the way mint or ground elder do. A single pass with secateurs to snip off the flower spikes before they set seed stops the spread completely for that season.

What to do: Cut back flower stalks as soon as they appear if you don't want volunteer seedlings; leave a few if you're happy to let it fill in a patch for free.

In Scotland: In a short Scottish growing season, a bit of self-seeding is a cheap way to keep a patch going since sorrel seed doesn't stay viable in soil for long, so there's little risk of it building up into a persistent seed bank the way some weeds do.

“If sorrel is growing wild and thriving in a patch of your garden, that tells you the soil there is acidic”

Wild sorrel does have a strong tolerance for acid soils, which is where the idea comes from, but tolerance isn't the same as a requirement. It thrives just as well in neutral or even slightly alkaline soil, especially where fertility is low and there's little competition from other plants. Poor drainage and low nutrients, not pH, are often the real reason it's dominating a patch.

What to do: Don't skip a proper soil pH test just because sorrel is doing well somewhere; use it at most as a hint that fertility or drainage might be poor there.

In Scotland: Plenty of Scottish soils genuinely run acidic, especially on peaty or moorland-derived ground, so it's tempting to use sorrel as a shortcut, but that same acidity is common enough here that it isn't a distinguishing sign of anything.

“Sorrel is pest-prone and needs regular spraying to keep slugs and aphids off it”

Sorrel's main vulnerability is slugs and snails going after seedlings and young leaves, and it can pick up aphids on soft new growth, but treatment for aphids is rarely needed. There's no case for a routine spray programme.

What to do: Focus effort on slug protection while plants are young and small; once established, leave aphids alone unless an infestation is visibly heavy.

In Scotland: Scotland's damp summers do mean slug pressure on young seedlings is genuinely higher than in drier parts of the UK, so it's worth protecting new sorrel plants specifically from slugs here, even though spraying for aphids is still pointless.

“Like most productive perennial herbs, sorrel clumps need dividing every year or two to stay productive”

Established sorrel clumps only need dividing roughly every four to five years, far less often than the annual or biennial split some perennial herbs need.

What to do: Leave clumps undisturbed for several years and only lift and split when the centre starts to look tired or production visibly drops.

In Scotland: With a shorter growing season, dividing sorrel too often sets it back before it's had time to build up the root reserves it needs to bounce back quickly the following spring.

“"French sorrel" is just another name for ordinary garden/common sorrel — it's the same plant”

RHS treats French sorrel (Rumex scutatus) and common sorrel (R. acetosa) as two distinct species with different growth habits and flavour: French sorrel is a low, mat-forming plant to 15-45cm with grey-green, juicy, citrus-flavoured leaves, while common sorrel is an upright UK-native perennial to about 50cm with a sour, slightly astringent, lemony flavour. Confusingly, RHS's own plant record for Rumex scutatus lists "garden sorrel" as one of its alternative common names, which is exactly why the two get muddled in seed catalogues and recipes.

What to do: Check the Latin name on seed packets if the distinction matters to you: Rumex scutatus for the milder, low-growing French type, Rumex acetosa for the sharper, upright common type. Either is fine to grow, but don't expect one to behave or taste like the other.