Garden cress

Garden cress - Lepidium sativum L.
Champion in early maturity!
An annual herb of the cabbage family, 10-30 cm high.
This is the earliest ripening leafy vegetable crop: 12-20 days after sowing, it is ready for use.
The plant is cold-resistant, shade-tolerant, moisture-loving. In hot weather, the leaves become coarse, and the plant shoots.
Wet, semi-shaded areas should be allocated under it. Prefers fertile soil.
Agrotechnics.
Gardencress is sown in early spring to a depth of 0.5-1 cm, seeding rate 0.8-1.2 g / m2. The row spacing is 10-15 cm.
After sprouting (2-3 days), they are thinned at a distance of 5-7 cm.
Sowings are repeated 10-15 days before the onset of dry weather and renewed at the end of summer.
Care consists in a single loosening of row spacings and watering.

Gardencress is one of the few crops that can be grown at home during the winter.
It is sown in bowls or other small dishes, which are covered with sand, sawdust or a mixture of peat and sand.
Seeds, sown on the surface or slightly deepened into the soil, sprout at a temperature of + 16 + 18 ° C after 3 days, and after a week you can cut off the first vitamin portion.
The bittercress greens are very delicate and have a pleasant pungent taste, reminiscent of horseradish. It is due to the presence of mustard oil in the leaves.
In its taste and nutritional value, as well as in the content of vitamins and mineral salts, watercress surpasses many vegetable and spicy crops.
Its leaves are very rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, C, P, they also contain protein, sugar, iron, iodine and other elements.
The healing properties of this plant were used by the ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians.
Nowadays, cress is used in medicine as a diuretic in the treatment of gallstone disease.
It also improves digestion and sleep, helps lower blood pressure. In folk medicine, it is used to cleanse the respiratory tract.

Garden Cress. Bot.: Lepidium sativum L.