Watercress salad growing from seeds on a windowsill. How to grow watercress on a windowsill, how to care for and harvest
In the article we talk about watercress on the windowsill - how to grow a plant, and what conditions are necessary to obtain juicy greenery. You will learn how to choose correct capacity for sowing plants and prepare the soil. We will tell you why watercress should not be placed in the sun, and how often it should be watered.
Planting watercress at home
Watercress can be grown on a windowsill
Watercress - useful plant rich in mineral salts and vitamins that can support the immune system. This is especially important in the autumn-winter period. Nutritionists recommend taking this plant because of its low calorie content.
Due to its unpretentiousness, the plant can be grown all year round. To do this, it is enough to allocate a little space on your windowsill or glazed balcony. Watercress is considered one of the best crops for home gardens.
- The plant is unpretentious and does not require a lot of light. You don't have to spend a lot of time looking after it.
- Watercress ripens quickly. Just a few weeks after sowing in a pot, you will have fresh greens.
- Growing watercress on a windowsill will provide you with a year-round supply of nutrients.
Choice of container and soil
Growing watercress on a windowsill is a simple matter. But still you need to follow some rules.
When choosing a container for sowing crops, gardeners recommend choosing wide pots, boxes, containers up to 15 centimeters deep. Watercress can be grown even in a shallow dish with mineral wool, foam rubber or sawdust.
Choose a deep tray for draining water. If you suddenly forget about watering, the water from the tray will provide the plant with moisture for some more time.
Before backfilling the soil, take care of drainage by pouring small pebbles into the bottom of the pot.. This will protect the plant from root rot.
Place a layer of landscape material on the bottom of the container. It will prevent the soil from washing out when watering.
When planting lettuce at home, gardeners recommend using the universal "Biogrunt". A layer of such soil is laid directly on the drainage. It is advised to cover the seeds with the same nutrient mixture.
Before the next sowing of watercress, the substrate in the container is changed. If you decide to get new harvest from the “old” roots, you need to feed the watercress once with liquid fertilizer “Rainbow”.
Sowing seeds
Watercress does not require complex care
After laying the drainage layer, soil is poured. The thickness of the layer is from 2 to 4 centimeters. The seeds of the plant are laid evenly, at a small distance from each other. Consumption of seed material - 5-8 g per square meter.
The next layer is the same nutrient mixture and reaches a height of 0.5-1 cm. It is important to water the “bed” abundantly at the end, since watercress is a moisture-loving plant. A plant that has not yet sprouted is recommended to be moistened with a sprayer, this will not allow the seed to be washed out.
To ensure a continuous supply of lettuce leaves to the table, the plant is grown in cycles with an interval of 7-14 days.
Growing watercress through a sieve
Exists unconventional method growing watercress on the windowsill - through a sieve. This method is convenient because you do not need to look for a special container, “mess around in the mud” and think about watering. The only drawback of this growing method is a small yield.
For this method of growing watercress on a windowsill, you will need a tea strainer and a cup of water. Pour the seeds evenly into a strainer and place it in a mug of water. After a few days, the watercress will take root and shoots will begin to grow. You can harvest in just 5-6 days.
The German company "Eschenfelder" decided to make the work of cooks easier and released a special tray for growing watercress on the windowsill.
Optimal conditions and care
The first few days the pot should not be exposed to the sun, transfer it to a bright place after the emergence of shoots. You need to beware of direct sunlight, as young shoots may die. Watercress does not like high temperatures, so keep the container of vegetation away from the battery.
The main rule when growing watercress on the windowsill is frequent and plentiful watering. Lack of moisture leads to stem elongation, shoots of the plant and loss of taste. The leaves turn yellow, become hard and bitter. The worst outcome with a lack of watering is the complete fall of foliage.
Harvesting
Growing watercress on a windowsill is easy. After 2-3 weeks, the plant reaches a height of 10-12 centimeters, it can be carefully cut with scissors and served on the table.
You need to cut as much lettuce as you eat at a time - the plant does not tolerate storage and quickly deteriorates.
Watercress should be sown regularly - approximately every 7 days. Then you will always have fresh spicy greens on your table.
Diseases and pests
Due to the rapid maturation of watercress, it is rarely threatened by diseases and pests.
The only problem may be waterlogging of the soil. This leads to infection with black leg or rot. In such a situation, there is only one way out - to resow the crop.
For more information on growing watercress lettuce, see the video:
What to remember
- You can not keep watercress in direct sunlight and near the battery.
- Lettuce leaves should be cut immediately before cooking, as the greens quickly deteriorate and become unsuitable for consumption.
- Growing this plant will not take much effort, but it is able to provide the whole family with the necessary trace elements in the cold season.
21.10.2017
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Watercress, growing on the windowsill - technology from A to Z
The well-known watercress, growing on the windowsill of which will not deliver extra hassle, will bring great benefit if you show up at your house. Cultivation can take place both in soil and without soil, in cotton wool, water, but you need to properly sow and care for seedlings in order to valuable product not outgrown and not bitter ...
Watercress - growing on a windowsill in the ground
Bedbug is an extremely healthy plant that is recommended to be eaten daily and one of the ways to put fragrant watercress on your table all year round - growing on the windowsill. It is ideal for urban residents, as mini-beds with greens do not take up much space, and the most common way is to get fresh watercress - which is grown at home in universal soil. 
To grow watercress on a windowsill, you will need ordinary flower pots or trays (they are often used for seedlings) 5-7 cm deep, they are filled with 2-3 cm of fine drainage - vermiculite, crushed gravel, split shards or brick chips. From above, a layer of 3-5 cm is poured with standard soil for seedlings or indoor plants, it can also be composed independently of the following components:
- 1 part garden soil
- 1 part leafy soil or rotted compost
- 0.5 parts coarse sand
- 0.5 parts peat
To get high-quality watercress, growing on the windowsill should begin with the disinfection of the soil, especially if it was made by yourself. To do this, the soil is heated in the oven for 40 minutes at a temperature of +70 ﹾ ... + 80 ﹾС, or well spilled with boiling water. If the soil is purchased in specialized store, such processing is not needed.
Important! Watercress is a fast growing plant that doesn't need much nutrients and in the soil where it will be sown, you should not add mineral fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers - they can contribute to the accumulation of nitrates in greenery.
Watercress in the ground - pictured
The next step is to sow seeds pre-soaked in boiled water within 20-30 minutes. Before planting watercress, the seeds are slightly dried so that they do not stick together, and laid out on the surface of the soil. A specific scheme for growing is not needed, since the bugs grow well in thickened crops. Sprinkle the seeds with 1 cm of sifted soil on top, moisten from a spray bottle, cover with a film or glass and put on a windowsill. Watercress shoots will appear in 3-7 days.
What conditions do watercress need when grown on a windowsill:
- Lighting- anyone will do, except for pitch darkness, bowls with seedlings are placed on a windowsill with any orientation
- Temperature- below the average for the apartment, that is, from +10 ﹾ to +18 ﹾС, the heat from the battery will provoke a rapid overgrowth of greenery, so it is better to put a screen made of foil or cardboard on heaters under the windowsill
- soil moisture- moderate, without sudden drops, plentiful spraying 2-3 times a week will make watercress more fragrant and tender
- Air humidity- high, without drops, otherwise the greens will grow hard and bitter, so it is advisable to put cups of water next to the mini-garden on the windowsill, and in winter time cover the batteries with a damp cloth
Under such conditions, watercress seedlings grow to a degree of technical readiness (7-10 cm in height) in a week, it is desirable to cut them in parts, for consumption at a time, since in cutting the leaves quickly lose their taste and useful qualities.
Watercress - growing on cotton wool and in water
A unique feature of the plant, known as bedbug or watercress, is that it can be grown on a windowsill without nutrient soil. The seeds of this green culture contain enough substances to form a full-fledged stem and leaves. At the same time, the nutrient content in them will be at the same high level as when growing in the soil. If it is not possible to place pots and boxes in which watercress will grow in at home, growing on a window sill without soil can be a pleasant alternative. For greens, watercress - growing on a windowsill without a nutrient substrate allows you to use:
- tissue or paper napkins
- foam or natural sponges
Watercress on cotton wool - in the photo
Such a substrate is placed in bowls with a layer of 2 cm (you can also use strong plastic bags), well saturate with water and lay out the soaked watercress seeds on the surface. Crops are covered with foil and put on the windowsill. If we sow watercress on napkins or cotton wool in a bag, it needs to be slightly inflated and tied. After the appearance of seedlings, the crops are opened. Caring for such beds without soil comes down to timely moistening of the substrate, spraying the grown greens and maintaining the temperature at +10 ﹾ ... + 18 ﹾС.
No less interesting and easy way grow watercress - in a sieve made of fabric or metal, for the implementation of which you will need any container for water and a sieve. Even a mosquito net stretched over a wire frame will do. Water with a temperature of +30 degrees or slightly higher is poured into the lower container. Watercress seeds are laid out in a sieve and placed in water so that the water touches the bottom of the sieve and wets the seeds. Grown watercress, grown on the windowsill of which was carried out with the help of a sieve, can be eaten with the roots, because they fall through the cells into the water, and remain clean.
When to cut watercress and what to do if it's overgrown
Early maturing watercress - growing on a window sill without soil or in the ground means fast, without overgrowing and it is important to cut the leaves in a timely manner before they become too rough. It is better to focus on the height of the stems, which they should not be more than 13-15 cm. The best palatability watercress has a height of 8-10 cm. The greens reach the indicated sizes a week after sowing.
It is noteworthy that green watercress growing on a window sill on cotton wool, in soil or water completes faster than blue or red and this must be taken into account. Accelerate the growth of greenery heat and excess light. At a temperature of +25 degrees, the bugbear releases a flower arrow after the appearance of a pair of leaves, so it is important to observe the recommended temperature regime.
Which is not known to everyone, has a rich vitamin composition. Therefore, using daily green grass, your body will always receive required amount vitamins, in addition various recipes from bugs will make your food not only healthy, but also tasty.
If, nevertheless, watercress has outgrown, you should not use it in cooking - the taste of greens will be too sharp and bitter. The use of overripe bugs can be found in the manufacture home cosmetics or folk remedies from various diseases. They require watercress juice or mashed stems and leaves. Unused plants can be thrown away, and new seeds can be sown in empty containers.
Who among us doesn't love fresh vitamin greens? But in the garden it can be grown only in the summer. Of course, greens are sold in the store at any time of the year, but in terms of quality it will not be the same at all. Get natural greens at any time you can simply and accessible way- just grow watercress on the windowsill. This article will tell you how to grow such a salad.
Useful properties of watercress
Why watercress? The answer to this question is simple - this is a very useful plant that is easy to grow on a windowsill.
Watercress is fragrant herbs from the type of cabbage. It is rich in various vitamins, essential oils, ascorbic acid and various useful trace elements.
Regular consumption of watercress in food significantly helps the body, namely:
- improves immunity;
- cures cough, thanks to the alkaloids and resins included in the composition;
- prevents the occurrence of beriberi and anemia;
- cleanses the bronchi;
- prevents asthma attacks in asthmatics;
- normalizes blood pressure and improves metabolism;
- improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract;
- strengthens the nervous system;
- relieves insomnia;
- helps to quit smoking.
In addition, the crushed leaves of this salad are part of homemade ointments, lotions, creams, which significantly reduce acne and make acne scars less noticeable.
Watercress is also loved because of its unusual spicy taste similar to the taste of horseradish (popularly it is also called horseradish).
Despite great amount advantages, the plant is unpretentious in care. That is why it is very easy to grow watercress on the windowsill all year round: it grows quickly, does not require special attention, cold-resistant, shade-tolerant.
Varieties
Today, there are three varieties of watercress:
- curly - differs in a small rosette of leaves (17 cm) and raised, strongly dissected leaves (for example, "openwork").
- sowing - differs in a large rosette (up to 21 cm) and horizontal, wide, whole leaves (for example, "Danish", "fun").
- whole-leaved - it is distinguished by a large rosette, narrow, slightly cut leaves (for example, "ducat").
Due to its precocity, Danish watercress is most often found on the windowsill. How to grow it is described below.
What it takes to grow watercress on a windowsill
serious preliminary preparation and hard-to-find means for growing watercress will not be required. First you need to choose the most suitable grade and buy seeds. When choosing seeds, it is important to carefully examine the packaging. It should not be dented or torn. It is also important to check the expiration date of the seeds.
- Container for growing lettuce. Its height should be about 10 cm. As a container, you can use plastic container, bowl bowl, plate, tray or shallow flower pot.
- Nutrient medium (substrate) for cultivation. Such a substrate can be cotton wool, cotton pads, foam rubber, gauze, peat or well-chopped wood shavings. The substrate can also be replaced with a hydrogel.
- Food wrap or plastic bag.
- Ordinary or purchased nutrient soil.
- A mug and a teaspoon.
How to grow watercress on a windowsill? The methods for doing this are completely different. Let's consider the main ones.
Growing watercress in a substrate
You need to take a container and lay a suitable substrate on the bottom with a layer of 1.5-2 cm. After that, the substrate must be moistened with boiled or settled water. If peat or wood shavings are used as a substrate, then it is doused with boiling water to avoid mold.
After the substrate is prepared, you need to take a glass, pour the seeds into it and fill them with water so that the water completely hides the seeds. Thus, each seed will be in its shell.
In water, the seeds need to be held for a few seconds, after which they are transferred with a teaspoon from a glass into a prepared container with a nutrient medium, and gently spread them in one layer.
To create greenhouse conditions for the seeds, the container must be covered from above cling film or plastic bag and put on the windowsill. It is important to place the jar so that it does not fall directly Sun rays, and away from a hot battery. So in a jar of seeds, a greenhouse effect is created.
After a day, you need to check the seeds, usually at this time slightly hatched sprouts already appear. In another day, good sprouts should appear, then the film is removed.
Caring for this salad is very simple: water it in time, sometimes turn it to the light on the other side (so that the plants grow straight). It is also good to spray it with water from a spray bottle. If desired, you can feed the salad with a potassium solution or urea. The main thing is not to overdry the soil, as the press salad loves moisture very much, and its lack thins the plants and worsens their taste.
After 1.5-2 weeks, the salad can already be eaten.
... and in soil
Fertile soil should be poured into the container (about 7 cm). After that, make even grooves (depth 0.5 cm). The distance between the grooves should be 10-15 cm. The seeds are covered with a thin layer of soil (about 1 cm).
Seeds can also be sown in a chaotic manner - just pour them out of a glass after soaking, level and cover with earth.
After that, the container must be covered with a film. If the room is warm enough (20-23 degrees), then you can leave the container without a film.
With this method, the seeds will germinate a little longer (about 2 days), as they germinate through the soil. When sprouts appear, the temperature should be reduced to 10-15 degrees. This will help develop a strong root system for the plant and prevent them from stretching out.
After seed germination, care for the plants should be the same as described in the first method.
The most interesting ways to grow watercress
Because of the unpretentiousness of watercress, it is grown any way and anywhere. Consider a few interesting ways cultivation:
- This method does not require land and a container for growing, and the plants do not need daily watering. You need to take a small tea strainer and a cup for water. Seeds are poured into a strainer and watered warm water(she ends up in the cup). After that, a cup with a strainer can be removed to the windowsill, after a week the greens will be ready. Growing in this way has a great advantage - lettuce can be eaten with roots.
- This method is quite common. Lettuce is grown in a container, the bottom of which is covered with damp gauze. The disadvantage of this method is that many seeds are required. But these seeds germinate very quickly.
- Growing in an electronic pot. In such a pot, lettuce can be grown all year round, and you don’t have to do anything at all, just pour seeds. True, such a pot is quite expensive.
Above, methods have been described on how to quickly grow watercress on a windowsill. However, they are all quite simple.
Features of collecting lettuce
How to grow watercress on a windowsill in winter, we examined, it's time to harvest. It also needs to be done correctly.
You can cut the lettuce when the stems grow up to 8-9 cm. It is better to do this in the morning or in the evening. Watercress should be eaten fresh, ie. do not store. In the refrigerator, it can be stored for no more than a day (preferably in water). If you store the salad for longer than a day, then it quickly turns yellow and remains without its beneficial properties.
When the lettuce has grown to 13-14 cm, it must be cut, and as close to the base as possible. Once the lettuce is cut, the roots will not grow back, so watercress needs to be sown every 2 weeks for a continuous harvest.
Secrets: how to grow watercress on the windowsill correctly
- In order for the rosette of leaves to be large, the distance between plants must be at least 5 cm.
- Before sowing, the soil must be well compacted.
- It is necessary to sow the seeds sequentially, about 1 time in 10 days, so that it grows continuously.
- It is important to water on time, as watercress loves moisture.
Thus, we figured out how to grow watercress on the windowsill so that it is fragrant and extremely healthy. This small garden does not require much space, does not require special care, but brings a lot of pleasure. By the way, watercress can be grown both on the windowsill and in the garden.
Spicy herbs contribute nice variety in the usual diet and provide the body with vitamins and minerals. Dill and parsley have firmly merged into the country landscape, but connoisseurs of fresh herbs increasingly began to grow watercress next to them. This southern culture, found naturally in northeastern Africa and Asia, quickly adapted to colder climates and spread throughout the world. Beneficial features people appreciated the plants in ancient times, although they gave it a not very euphonious name - bedbug. It is also known as water or garden cress, kotem, tertizak.
Site preparation
The place for growing this salad is prepared in advance. In autumn, the soil in the area where it is planned to plant the crop is deeply dug up, freed from weeds and humus (5 kg), superphosphate (20 g), calcium chloride(15 g) (based on 1 m² of soil surface).
With the advent of spring, the site is loosened. If the earth is dense and heavy, dig again. Before sowing, the soil should be enriched mineral fertilizers(ammonium sulphate) and well-rotted compost.
The scorching sun hurts tender leaves bedbug. Its cultivation will be successful if the beds are placed in diffused shade. There is another option - to choose a place where the sun's rays fall only in the morning or in the late afternoon. If there is no other way out, the bedbug can also be planted in a site illuminated throughout the day. But then in hot afternoon he needs artificial shading.
Watercress is surprisingly unpretentious. It can produce crops even on sand, and at home, many practice growing it on felt. Most of all, soil with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction is suitable for him. The bedbug feels good in open field on plots vacated after the following crops:
- beets;
- potatoes;
- onion.
But his close relatives - plants from the cabbage family - will be bad predecessors for culture.
Seeding rules
Sow bedbug seeds directly into the ground. Autumn and spring planting is possible. In the first case, sowing is carried out in October, when frosts are already close. Otherwise, it will quickly rise, and the tender shoots will die. In the second - from mid-April to mid-May. The exact timing depends on the local climate.
You can plant seeds if 2 conditions are met:
- the soil thawed to a depth of 4 cm;
- average daily air temperature is +6-+8°C
So that the cultivation of bed bugs does not bring trouble, the seeds are sown in rows or in a tape way. If the area is small, the plant can be cultivated as an intermediate or compact crop. They do the same when planting it in greenhouses. Watercress can form a solid carpet, but such a green area will be more difficult to care for. Neighboring rows are made at a distance of 10-20 cm. When sowing seeds, it must be borne in mind that adult plants will need a place to develop. Between them leave at least 10 cm of free space. If the bedbug is crowded, the leaves on it will be small. Close planting will make the plants vulnerable to diseases and pests.
It is not necessary to sow the seeds at a considerable distance, you can spread them out thicker. When shoots appear, they will simply need to be thinned out.
During spring sowing, bedbug seeds are placed at a depth of 0.5-1.0 cm. Before winter, a more thorough planting is needed. The furrows are made deeper (about 1.5 cm). After sowing, the seeds are covered with a thin (0.5 cm) layer of soil. The earth is lightly compacted. Seedlings hatch in open ground quickly - in 3-4 days. It is not necessary to cover the beds. This salad is not afraid of cold: it easily withstands temperatures as low as -5°C.
The crop is cut off after about 2 weeks, when the height of the seedlings is 9-11 cm. Due to the rapid growth, the cultivation of bedbugs can be carried out non-stop, sowing seeds at intervals of 10-14 days and constantly getting fresh greens. Lettuce does not like heat, reacting to it by shooting and worsening the taste of the leaves. The most comfortable temperature for him is in the range of 15-18 ° C. Therefore, it is not recommended to plant seeds in open ground in July. It is better to postpone the procedure until the second half of August. You can cultivate a crop in the country all autumn until the very frost.
Features of agricultural technology
Cultivation of bedbugs can be left without a crop only if agricultural practices are violated or poor quality seeds are used. This culture is so unpretentious that it needs minimal care, which consists of the following activities:
- glaze;
- top dressing;
- weed removal;
- loosening.
Watercress leaves will be tender and juicy only if they are abundantly and regularly moistened. If watering is insufficient, they will coarsen, and the plant will release an arrow. Severe drying of the soil can lead to damage to a green plantation by pests and even to its death. on cloudy and rainy weather Moisturize plantings 2 times a week. If the days are dry and hot, water the bedbug daily. But it is important not to overdo it with moisturizing. Excess water is even more harmful to the plant than its lack. It will make the stems of the bedbug brittle and can cause them to rot. Therefore, in very rainy summers, it is better to completely abandon watering.
Due to the rapid maturation of the crop, it is not recommended to additionally feed the plantings. Otherwise, nitrates will accumulate in the leaves. It is better to add all the necessary organic and mineral compositions into the soil before sowing. Root top dressing is carried out only if the soil was not enriched before planting. Use for them highly diluted drugs in the minimum dosage.
In the open field, the bug is in dire need of loosening and timely weeding. Weeds are bad neighbors for its fragile seedlings. They can clog plantings, depriving them of light and nutrients. Watercress roots are tender and weak. They need an influx of oxygen, which will provide regular loosening.
There are many varieties of bedbug. There are varieties with emerald purple, white, crimson and black simple or heavily indented openwork leaves. But experienced gardeners often grow ordinary green bugs. He brings the harvest faster. Having planted a plant once, you can no longer worry about buying seeds. Nature endowed him with the ability to easily reproduce by self-sowing. To get a supply of seeds, it is enough to leave only 5 bedbug bushes in the garden for full ripening.
Watercress is an unusual crop whose leaves have an interesting spicy taste. It is pungent and bitter and resembles horseradish or radish. Such greens will favorably shade the taste of sandwiches, soups and second courses. It can be added to salads, sauces, omelettes. It goes well with cheeses and meats.
The bedbug is not capricious, is able to grow almost everywhere, does not require much attention. But heading the list of advantages of the plant is its usefulness. Eating watercress leaves improves sleep and digestion, they will help people with high pressure with respiratory diseases. If you wish, you can get fresh greenery all year round: in winter and autumn - on the windowsill, and when it gets warmer - on the balcony or summer cottage. Pay attention to this salad, and you will wonder how you could do without it. good taste earlier.
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