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Garden cress

Herbs · Cool

Garden cress

Brassicaceae

At a glance

Plant spacing
5 cm
USDA zones
3a–10b
Frost-sensitive
no
Growth duration
3 weeks

Which beds suit?

Sun (prefers)
partial shadeAlso okay:full sunshade
Soil (prefers)
loamyAlso okay:raised-bed mixsandy
Drainage (prefers)
normalAlso okay:very free-draining

Seed & start

Direct sow

Sow directly into the bed — no pre-culture needed.

Stachi's tip

Garden cress is the fastest harvest there is: 3 weeks from seed to butter-bread topping. Sow a few rows every 2 weeks for continuous peppery cress. Kids love the speed; the perfect first bed for young gardeners.

Who is Stachi? →

The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest

Sowing

Harvest

Good neighbours

Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.

Avoid these neighbours

No known conflicts.

Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.

Good pre-cultures

Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.

What comes after Garden cress?

When the bed frees up, the season is usually not over. We worked out what still fits afterwards — with time windows and reasons.

See follow-on crops for Garden cress →

Sources

  • LLM-Baseline-2026-05-27 Phase 7 expansion
  • LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Kräuter zum Frischverzehr (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/157754/index.php)
  • Bingenheimer Saatgut – Grüne-Sosse-Kräuter anbauen (https://blog.bingenheimersaatgut.de/kraeuter-fuer-gruene-sosse-anbauen)

Where these figures come from

Timing
Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
Spacing
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Companion planting
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Crop rotation
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Yield
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.

Sources: LLM-Baseline-2026-05-27 Phase 7 expansion · LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Kräuter zum Frischverzehr (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/157754/index.php) · Bingenheimer Saatgut – Grüne-Sosse-Kräuter anbauen (https://blog.bingenheimersaatgut.de/kraeuter-fuer-gruene-sosse-anbauen)

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