Yellow sorrel

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Sunday, 24 March 2019 at 3:00 pm

Find organic methods to eradicate yellow sorrel from your garden in our expert guide.

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Time to act

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Yellow sorrel, Oxalis corniculata, is a low, creeping weed that will happily grow anywhere - it's as happy in the bone-dry cracks in paving as it is in the damp garden and around the tops of containers. Although small, it's tricky to pull out and the roots usually stay where they are and it will regrow from them.

Symptoms

Yellow sorrel grows as an annual, but it happily and plentifully regenerates from seed each year, as the seed pods explode and fire seeds all around the garden.

Find it on

all over the garden

Organic

The best way to deal with yellow sorrel organically is to hoe it before it flowers and set seed, then remove it or leave it on soil surface on hot day to wither and die, to dig it out or smother it with mulch or a deep layer of soil. In lawns, vigorously rake the patch with a wire rake in mid-September to remove the worst of it.