Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-355
Wintercress
Barbarea vulgaris
Wintercress is a trap crop grown to protect other cabbage-family plants from diamondback moth - the moth strongly prefers to lay its eggs here over broccoli or cabbage, but the larvae that hatch die from the plant's own bitter compounds before they can do any damage. It also flowers earlier than almost anything else around it, a mass of yellow bloom that feeds the hoverflies whose larvae then go on to eat aphids everywhere else in the garden. It is a cool-season plant that germinates in fall, holds a green rosette through winter, flowers in spring, and dies out with the first real summer heat, self-sowing readily enough to replant its own patch every year. The leaves are edible in small amounts with a sharp, hot-cress flavor, but eating much of them can cause kidney trouble - the young flowering stems, cooked like broccoli, make the better and safer vegetable.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 4.8–7.5
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 16–35 in
- Mature spread
- 10–18 in
- Plant spacing
- 8–10 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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Herbaceous · USDA 8–12
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
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Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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