Patience dock is also known as Garden patience, Herb patience and Monk's rhubarb. It is a very healthy, tasty, and easy-to-grow leafy vegetable that also grows very quickly. The large, soft, tender leaves have a mild, slightly acidic flavour, which becomes more pronounced as the leaves mature. Patience dock belongs to the knotweed family (Polygonaceae), just like buckwheat, rhubarb, blood sorrel, and common sorrel. The plant forms a clump that can easily be divided, allowing one plant to produce several new plants. Besides being a delicious vegetable, it is also a beautiful addition to any garden. This plant can easily survive the winter, although it loses its leaves during the colder months. Patience dock flowers from May through October. After flowering, the leaves become less tasty.
Patience dock can be boiled, steamed, stewed and used as a replacement for spinach in many different dishes. It is also suitable for quiches, frittatas, mashed vegetable dishes, casseroles and stir-fries and can be added to soups, stews and salads. Cook patience dock briefly to prevent loss of flavour and vitamins. It combines wonderfully with pork, lamb, beef, chicken, minced meat, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, cream, smoked sausage, bacon, white wine, parsley, chives, prawns, thyme, paprika powder, cayenne pepper, and feta cheese. It is also delicious combined with other vegetables such as radishes, lamb's lettuce, lettuce, iceberg lettuce, peas, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, sauerkraut, shallots, carrots, green beans, butter beans, and broad beans. Warning! This plant is toxic to pets. Hardy perennial plant. Height: 50 - 150 cm.
Outdoor sowing: April - June
Germination: 8 - 16 days
Germination temp.: 12 - 22 °C
Sowing depth: ½ cm
Distance between the rows: 30 - 35 cm
Planting distance: 30 - 35 cm
Plant postition: sunny - half shade
Harvesting period: July - October
Sowing outdoors is possible from April until the end of June. Only sow once no severe frost is expected. Choose a previously fertilised location with sun or partial shade and good drainage. Sow in rows spaced 30 - 35 cm apart. Sow sparingly and do not sow too deeply. Gently press or rake the seeds into the soil and cover them with approximately ½ cm of soil. Keep the soil consistently moist and free from weeds.
It is also possible to broadcast the seeds. Patience dock can be harvested in several ways. You can pick individual leaves as needed and use them for example, in salads, mashed vegetable dishes or as a replacement for spinach. For the best flavour and tenderness, harvest the youngest and smallest leaves whenever possible. You can also harvest larger quantities of patience dock. Cut or pick a larger amount of leaves together with the stems, while leaving around 5 - 8 cm of the plant intact. This allows the plant to continue growing so that you can harvest from the same plants again later. Use harvested patience dock as soon as possible, as the leaves do not keep well after picking. However, the leaves can be frozen after blanching, allowing them to be stored for up to 6 months. Smaller quantities of patience dock can also be grown in large pots. Sow smaller amounts at intervals to extend the harvesting period.
