Garden cress thrives both in potting soil in the garden bed and on kitchen paper on the windowsill. Growing garden cress is incredibly easy if you follow our tips.
How do I plant garden cress correctly?
To plant garden cress, choose a location with light soil or kitchen paper, keep the substrate moist at all times and place the plant in moderate light. Sow the seeds flat without covering them with soil and harvest the cress after approx. 1-3 weeks.
The perfect location for the garden cress
As I said, garden cress grows almost everywhere. The only important thing is that the substrate provides support for the roots (e.g. a glass plate falls out) and that it is kept continuously moist during the germination phase. Furthermore, garden cress, like all plants, needs light to germinate and grow. However, it doesn't really matter to her whether she gets hours of direct sunshine or is in partial shade. It is important that she enjoys a little light. However, she doesn't like direct midday sun.
Sowing garden cress step by step
Regardless of whether you plant your garden cress in the garden bed, you proceed as follows:
- To ensure better germination, you can soak your garden cress seeds for several hours before sowing.
- Moisten the substrate, for example with a spray bottle.
- Sprinkle the garden cress seeds loosely over the top.
- If you sow several rows of garden cress, you should leave a distance of 15cm between the individual rows.
- Garden cress seeds germinate in light and must therefore never be covered with soil!
- Protect your seeds from birds with scarecrows or nets if you sow them outdoors.
- Then water the seeds lightly - preferably with a spray bottle (€7.00 on Amazon).
Care for garden cress
Garden cress doesn't really need any care other than water - and plenty of it! Under no circumstances should the garden cress seeds dry out during or after germination!
Harvesting garden cress
Garden cress can be harvested just one week after sowing as soon as it has reached a height of around 10cm. But you can also wait two or three weeks to harvest. To harvest, simply pull the plants out of the soil or substrate by the leaves. Wash them briefly under running water and consume them as soon as possible to prevent nutrients from being lost. In this profile we have compiled a list of the nutrients garden cress contains and which he alth problems it helps against. If you ever have too much garden cress left over, you can easily freeze it.
Tip
Sow the garden cress every 10 days and always enjoy fresh, he althy garden cress all year round.
