It doesn't matter whether you have sown the cress in the garden or on the windowsill - you don't have to wait long for the first harvest. On the window sill it is ready to harvest after just a few days. In the garden it takes a little longer.

When is cress ready for harvest?

Outdoors, it only takes two to three weeks before you can harvest the cress. The prerequisite is that you ensure that the soil is constantly moist.

You can harvest cress in the garden until flowers form. With the emergence of the flowers, the plants lose their aroma. So better harvest on time.

Cress grown on the window sill is ready to cut after just a few days. Here the garden cress is cut after the cotyledons have appeared after the first leaves have appeared.

The best time to cut cress

In the early morning, the leaves contain a particularly large number of essential oils. It is therefore best to cut the cress at this time.

Harvest cress properly

  • Use scissors to harvest
  • Harvest early in the morning
  • Cut the cress just above the ground
  • If possible, do not wash

Consume cress quickly after harvesting

Cress tastes best freshly harvested. It can only be stored for a short time and loses part of its aroma after just a few hours.

Therefore, only harvest as much cress as you can use up quickly. Cress is not necessarily suitable for drying or freezing. Large quantities of cress are best processed into cress oil, cress butter or pesto. You should only wash cress in an emergency, as this will make the leaves mushy.

Think about the new sowing in good time

So that you can always harvest fresh cress, you should plant new cress beds on the window sill at intervals of one week.

Timely new sowings are also advisable outdoors. You can simply sow them as a catch crop in other beds or plant them in the previous bed.

tips and tricks

You can easily harvest cress that you grow on the windowsill by holding the planter at an angle. Cut the herbs with scissors so that they fall directly onto the sandwich or into the prepared quark dish.

Category:

Vegetable garden