Growing watercress on the windowsill and in the open field

Watercress - a herbal plant originally from Iran. Annual, widely used in medicine and cooking. The salad has thin white stems and many green leaves. Lettuce blooms with pale purple or white shades. Unpretentious vegetable that conquers unusual taste, grow it almost all over the world.

Some varieties are grown even in order to obtain a useful oil, which is used in cosmetology. Even in Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, useful properties of the product and the presence of useful trace elements in it were noted: phosphorus, calcium, iodine, flavonoids, vitamins of different groups, essential and fatty oils.

varieties of cress

integrifolia

Plants are fast or late ripening. The most popular of them - "Ducat" .Early. Already after 3 weeks( and sometimes after 2), the first crop can be harvested after germination. The plant is cold-resistant.

Dillat's Full-Leaf Watercress

This kind of salad can be grown all year round not only in the open field, but also in a greenhouse, on a balcony or window sill. Leaves are half-raised. You can use both young shoots and leaves for salad or as decoration of dishes.

Curly

Got this name because of the rugged leaves. The type of lettuce has varieties late or middle ripeness and.

Curly

Sowing

The variety matures quickly. Outwardly, it has something in common between whole-leaf and curly. The leaves have a pleasant delicate flavor and fresh aroma.

Known grade "Danish" .Early ripe, resistant to low temperatures. Perhaps year-round cultivation. Care does not require special conditions. Used mainly only raw.

Sown variety Danish

Features of growing cress of lettuce

Sowing of cress of lettuce in open ground is carried out in early spring - from April to May .It matures quickly. Therefore, for the season( before mid-autumn), you can get a few harvests. It all depends on the climatic and weather conditions of the area.

Required conditions for landing are:

• No snow .The soil should warm up a little( at least to a depth of 5 cm).
• The average daily temperature of should not fall below +8 degrees .

Site preparation for sowing

For plant growth, it is desirable to give preference to weakly acidic or neutral soil .Culture will respond well if planted in the place where potatoes, beets or onions used to grow. At the place of cabbage sowing is not worth it.

To grow a crop, gardeners recommend choosing a site that at least will be in the shadow of for several hours a day. In the shade or partial shade, watercress can be grown from mid-spring to early autumn. In sunny areas, after the onset of heat, cultivation is stopped.

The very soil should be taken care of in the fall. If the site is not fertile and not famous for its high yields, it is better to apply fertilizer per 1 sq. M.in such proportions: compost - 5 kg, superphosphate - 20 g., calcium chloride - 15 g.

Planting technology

Watercress seeds

Seeds are buried in the furrows to a depth of 5-7 cm , observing the row spacing about 15 cm .No need to fear that when planting the soil is not warmed. Seeds and young sprouts perfectly tolerate temperatures up to - 4 degrees.

When the first shoots appear, it is necessary to take into account that for 1 adult plant , the area in will be 10-12 cm .If the plot is densely planted, it is better to thin it. Because plants can grow not only weak and small, but also more exposed to fungal diseases.

Treatment rules

Watering

In case of a complete lack of precipitation, the plant should be watered with daily, especially in the summer period. In the rainy period, watering is not needed. In case of cloudy weather, the irrigates fairly moderately 2-3 times a week with .

It is important not to allow an overabundance of moisture, as this makes it very fragile and vulnerable to decay and fungal diseases. Afraid of windy weather. Plus, the taste of the salad can change. After watering, you need to gently loosen the soil and remove weeds in a timely manner.

If the surplus of moisture can change the taste of watercress

Top dressing

Do not apply fertilizer after planting .The period of maturation of the culture is very small, so if there are nitrates in the feed, they do not have time to be processed. Because of this, it is better to fertilize the soil before planting, and even better to prepare a plot from the fall of .

If, however, fertilizing cannot be done without sowing seeds, use only minimal concentrations. After harvesting greens in the same area, it is better to plant potatoes, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes or legumes.

Disease Prevention

Diseases and pests affect watercress in very rare cases of .This is due to the rapid maturation of the crop.

The only problem may be waterlogging. It threatens to infect a black leg or rot. In such situations, the only way out is to re-harvest. Treatment with fungicides will be hazardous to health.

Cruciferous flea is a dangerous pest of watercress

. is considered a dangerous pest of .To get rid of it, the plants are treated with tobacco broth. As a preventive measure against pests, crop rotation and keeping distances between plants are used.

Harvesting and storage conditions

Some varieties ripen in 14-20 days after the appearance of the first shoots. It is very easy to determine that watercress salad is ripe: leaves should be wide in bright green , leaves crush emit a pleasant fresh aroma .

Store in the refrigerator. In order for the vegetable to keep its freshness and useful microelements longer, it is better to put it in a bowl with cool water.

The watercress should be stored in the refrigerator.

Watercress is a garden crop that produces crops very quickly and does not require difficult care conditions, it can be grown even at home on a windowsill. is used not only in cooking, but also in cosmetology, medicine .Included in many recipes for healthy eating.

If you make a cross-salad part of your diet, you can significantly reduce the risk of cancer and endocrine diseases, protect yourself from serious problems with joints and swelling, avoid problems with digestion and kidneys.