Quickly Grown Herbs and Greens
Watercress
One of the delights of cooking is the ability to add your own homegrown ingredients. Nothing more so if you think you need green fingers to do so. Growing seeds for eating and being able to harvest them with in a week or a few weeks is within the grasp of anyone with a windowsill! The modern need for fresh
eating has made this possible.
Watercress is one of the easy grown herbs or salad plants that can be grown this way. We pick this from a nearby flowing stream if the livestock have not beaten us to it! It grows very quickly and easily and in the wrong place a weed. The peppery flavours of the leaves are particularly nice in sandwiches. Watercress is a relative of the cabbage or Brassica family with genetic links to radish and mustard.
While the cress we pick grows big, in some cases over a metre in length, we never pick it if its flowering as the taste is too bitter. The beauty of growing your own on a windowsill is any one can do it as seeds will grow in pots that just stand in water. Cut it at the size you want. Watercress is reputed to have many
benefits including anti cancer properties, as well as containing calcium, iodine, and folic acid so it is well worth including in the daily diet if possible
Mustard is another salad leaf growing quickly and easily at any time of the year. Mustard has been around for thousands of years and mentioned in the Bible. Grow mustard seeds in a seed raising mix. Spread the seed out and cover with the soil mix and water gently. Keep seeds moist and the seedlings will normally appear within a week depending on conditions and warmth, earlier or later. They can be cut at any size but leaving the seedlings to grow for three or four weeks until they reach 10-15 cm high, will provide a better return for your efforts and bigger sandwiches! Sow mustard seeds successively at two to three week intervals so you have an ongoing supply.
Rocket lettuce or herbs are another quickly grown green. Like both Mustard and Watercress has a peppery taste. It is best to eat just a few weeks from sowing as it grows so fast the leaves take on a bitter taste if they grow old. Grow it quickly with plenty of water, and sow successively for a continuing supply.Enjoy your homegrown greens, they are worth it!
