Mustard can be grown in trays of compost or on the surface of pads of cotton wool, flannel, kitchen towel etc. If you wash out empty eggshells, you can draw faces on the front and grow ‘egglings’ with cress hair! As a sprouted seed the rape sprout does not look very different but the flavour is unremarkable compared to the old fashioned mix. It is also eaten as sprouts, and the fresh or dried seed pods can be used as a peppery seasoning ( haloon). Cress, sometimes referred to as garden cress to distinguish it from similar plants also referred to as cress, is a rather fast-growing, edible herb.

If you want something a bit milder, look for oilseed rape (canola) seeds – they can be grown the same way. This is one of a series of articles on basic gardening that I have put together for those of you who are just starting out. You can crowd them in – they’re not going to grow big enough to need any space, and you want plenty to harvest.Consumers commonly acquire cress as seeds or (in Europe) from markets as boxes of young live shoots. Keep the seeds dark until after germination and then move to a warm well lit spot ensuring that the medium stays moist.

Children find it fascinating to watch it grow as in only a few days it produces healthy and nutritious food. Raw cress is 89% water, 6% carbohydrates (including 1% dietary fiber), 3% protein and less than 1% fat (table). Fresh and peppery, mustard cress is ideal in sandwiches and salads for added kick or also great as a garnish. If you sow your seeds in the morning then they may have started to germinate by bedtime – small white roots will be visible.When consumed raw, cress is a high- nutrient food containing substantial content of vitamins A, C and K and several dietary minerals. If you want to grow mustard and cress to harvest them at the same time, then you need to sow the mustard 3-4 days ahead, because mustard seedlings grow faster. Among dietary minerals, manganese levels are high (26% DV) while several others, including potassium and magnesium, are in moderate content (table).