How To Grow Cress – Perfect For Children’s Activities Or A Windowsill Salad Crop
Chris is a gardening writer and nature enthusiast. He graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2022 with an MA in Psychology. Chris works with the Leeds Green Action Society, helping their food cooperative by growing various fruit and vegetables on their two allotments in Hyde Park, Leeds.
Reviewed By COLIN SKELLY
Colin is a Horticulturist and Horticultural Consultant with experience in a range of practical and managerial roles across heritage, commercial and public horticulture. He holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture award and has a particular interest in horticultural ecology and naturalistic planting for habitat and climate resilience.
IN THIS GUIDE
A dash of cress does lift an egg sandwich to the next level – but that’s far from capturing the full breadth and glory of the flavour contributions this humble leaf provides.
And while cress is typically fairly cheap, there are also a few other potential benefits.
Firstly, it’s as easy as anything – cress is one of the easiest things we’ve ever grown, making it a great introduction for new gardeners or for those of us trying to show young people the wonders of growing.
“Cress germinates so easily that it makes it extremely useful as a plant for use in children’s activities, but it is also a great easy-to-grow salad crop for a window sill,” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly.
And second, it’s versatile – there are several ways you can grow this plant (including inside eggs, as above), making it fun and flexible.
Overview
| Botanical Name | Lepidium sativum |
| Common Name(s) | Cress, Pepperwort, Pepper Grass, Poor Man’s Pepper |
| Plant Type | Annual / Herb |
| Native Area | Cultivated |
| Hardiness Rating | H2 |
| Foliage | Sprouts year-round |
| Flowers | None |
| When To Sow | Year-Round |
| Harvesting Months | Year-Round |
Sunlight
Preferred
Full Sun
Exposure
Indoors
Size
Height
0.01 – 0.05M
Spread
0.01 – 0.05M
Soil
Preferred
Any growing media, damp substrate or water
Moisture
Moist
pH
Any
There are a few plants that go by the name cress, and while it’s unlikely that this confusion will lead to you buying the wrong plant, let us clarify.
This plant is called Lepidium sativum.
It’s the cress we’re all familiar with, and it’s closely related to mustard, as evidenced by its feisty flavour.1Garden Cress. (n.d.). iNaturalist. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/341453
In different parts of the UK this plant goes by regional names like ‘Pepperwort’, ‘Pepper Grass’ or, somewhat judgmentally, ‘Poor Man’s Pepper’.
How To Grow Cress
Now you’re properly introduced, let’s take a look at how to grow cress.
Growing Indoors
Growing cress indoors is easy – all you need is a container and something to put the seeds on (potting mix will do, but you can use kitchen roll or toilet roll as well).
Here are the steps –
- Either spread a thin layer of potting mix, or line the bottom of the container with a layer of tissue a couple of sheets thick.
- Add a little water to get the mix or tissue moist. Not too wet!
- Sprinkle a few seeds on top.
- Cover the top of the container with cling film to trap moisture while letting light in. This will encourage better growth.
- Water occasionally, either with a gently running tap or with a spray bottle.
If you prefer the aesthetic of growing cress in a flowerpot instead of a container, you can grow it more traditionally as well.
To do this, add soil to a flowerpot and spread seeds on top, then push each one gently just below the surface.
Cress also works well in a windowsill herb garden.
While cress grows just fine on tissue, it will have access to far more nutrients when grown in soil.
This will keep it growing for longer and extend your harvest – something to bear in mind when deciding how to grow it!
Growing Outdoors
If you’ve decided to grow outside, cress likes a cool and shady spot.
Growing in direct sunlight leads to bitterness, making it much less pleasant to eat.
Here are the steps for growing cress outdoors –
- Get hold of some cress seeds.
- Find your cool and shady spot.
- Sow seeds in rows, sprinkling a good amount of seeds into each row. They should be around half a centimetre below the surface.
- Water the cress right away, then water each day.
- Once your seeds start to germinate you should thin them out, leaving the strongest plants a couple of centimetres from each other.
When growing cress outdoors you have a few options to make things a bit more interesting.
First up is intercropping, which involves growing cress around other plants.
Carrots and cress are a good pairing, as are cress and radishes.
You can also set yourself up with a continuous harvest by staggering planting: to do this just plant out a new row each fortnight, starting in early spring.
It’s OK to plant out cress before the last frost as it’s fairly hardy, so bear this in mind when planning planting times.
Harvesting
One thing you’ll notice about cress is that it grows quickly.
It’s ready to eat within a couple of weeks of planting and tastes better when young, so don’t leave it too long to harvest.
Harvesting is easy, too: simply trim down the stalks with scissors or, if you’ve got time to spare, by pinching them with your fingers.
Once harvested the stalks will continue to grow, giving you more cress in a few days time.
Most crops will yield 3-5 harvests before going to seed, at which point they’ll start to taste bitter and unpleasant.
While cress is in its early seed leaf stage you can eat the whole stalk and seeds if you want to.
Whether you go for indoor or outdoor growing, we’re sure you’ll get a lot from this plant.
