Planting Garden Cress
Garden Cress is a cool season vegetable in the Brassicaceae family. Getting the timing right is the difference between a strong stand and a disappointing one, so the windows below are given relative to your own last spring frost and first fall frost rather than a generic calendar date. Look up your local frost dates and count back or forward from there.
You can sow Garden Cress directly into the garden 2–4 weeks before your last frost.
Spacing and Planting Depth
Give Garden Cress room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.
| Spacing in row | 2 inches |
|---|---|
| Row spacing | 4 inches |
| Plants per sq ft | 18 |
| Planting depth | 0.25 inches |
| Sun requirement | Partial sun |
Days to Maturity
Garden Cress reaches maturity in 15–25 days from sowing.
For a continuous harvest, sow a new batch every 7 days. Use the succession planting scheduler →
Garden Cress is ready to harvest after about 20 days. Harvest before summer heat or, for fall crops, before a hard freeze, to keep quality high.
Conditions and Care
As a cool-season vegetable, Garden Cress does its best growing in the cooler weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. It is frost hardy and can shrug off light freezes, so it can stay in the ground later into the season than tender crops.
Garden Cress grows well in partial sun and tolerates some afternoon shade, which can help slow bolting in warm weather. Sow seed about 0.25 inches deep — small seed is sown shallow and barely covered, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.
Garden Cress belongs to the Brassicaceae family; rotating where you grow members of this family each year helps limit the build-up of soil-borne pests and disease. Because it matures relatively quickly, Garden Cress rewards succession sowing: small, repeated plantings keep a steady supply coming rather than one short glut.
Companion Plants
Pairing Garden Cress with the right neighbors can improve growth and deter pests; a few combinations are best avoided.
Grows well with: Radish
Growing Notes
Very fast peppery microgreen-type cress.