Friday 4 September 2015

Growing Cress on a windowsill

Here's a little project to kill a few minutes on a wet afternoon (in my case, a Bank Holiday). A good one for young kids too, because it produces very quick results.

You need:
A suitable (waterproof) container.
A piece of absorbent cloth / flannel or even some sturdy kitchen paper
Some Cress seeds


Fold the cloth over on itself a few times so that it is quite thick and then cut it to a size that fits neatly into the container.


Moisten the cloth and sprinkle the seeds onto it, forming a thick but single layer, so that all seeds are in contact with the moist cloth.


Place the container in a warm dark place, for instance the bottom of your airing-cupboard, and leave it there until the seeds begin to sprout - checking at least twice a day to see when this occurs. Germination will normally take about 2 days.

When the seeds begin to sprout, move the container to a light location, such as a windowsill, and let them grow. Check the moistness of the cloth frequently, and add a little more water as necessary. In a few days you should get something like this:


You know what to do now - cut the Cress with scissors and use it as a salad ingredient!

6 comments:

  1. You must know this already, but it's super fun for kids to use empty egg shells to grow cress too. Just need to put a damp piece of cotton wool inside, add the seeds on top and draw a face on the egg shell (sticking goggly eyes make it even funnier). Then the "hair" will grow and the kids can give it a "haircut". :)

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  2. Sounds really easy. Now have to think do I like cress?

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  3. Where's the mustard? It's got to me mustard and cress for me, with heavy on the mustard seeds.

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  4. Ah takes me back to childhood. Like many gardeners, cress was one of the first plants I grew, along with a bean, a hyacinth and a sunflower. Your cress is very upmarket... I swear we used loo paper instead of a cloth when I was a kid!

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  5. Like Sarah this takes me back to childhood. I have a pack of cress seeds but have never got round to sowing them yet.

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  6. Thanks for this Mark, yep I think I'll sow more thickly next time and use something thicker in the base so it doesn't dry out so quickly

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