Watercress

[berksmike]

Anyone got any experience growing watercress..
I have the bottom of an old water butt about 20cm deep and 1m across which i was gonna fill with compost and water to grow it.

Any tips?

Mike

[Headfry]

Yes, I grow watercress, easy I grow it in a pot of peat and keep it well watered!
watch for greenfly and in my case I think it was red spidermite! mine even over wintered in my cold greenhouse!
Lovely and tender leaves! yummy
Have just sown more seed...waiting now!
Good luck berksmike, let us know how you get on!

[Two_Sheds]

Anyone got any experience growing watercress..
Any tips?

Yeah...grow nasturtiums instead! Related to watercress, but a whole lot easier. Just sow and leave. Eat the flowers, leaves, seeds, yum.

[Tyto Alba]

Apparently you use up more calories to chew watercress than it actually contains.

What's the point?

hehe I remember years ago going up the Rivelin valley in Sheffield with my young cousin and eating the watercress by the river. It was a little bit crunchy and I couldn't understand why....until I realised that there were hundreds of tiny snails clinging to he underside of the leaves.

[Waffler]

LOL TA!

I love watercress, but thought it had to be grown in running water. I considered growing it in the back part of our pond (there's like a 'waterfall' trickling down, then that runs in to the main pond) but the fields we back on to sometimes have cattle in and that's not good for watercress either - although I don't know how far is a reasonable distance for animals to be grazed.
I have opted for land cress instead; never done it before, so it should be interesting.

[berksmike]

I do grow nasturtiums - both as food and to attract blackfly away from other crops...
I love watercress soup so wanted to grow some

[Sue]

Watercress - love it but without snails. I grew it in an old metal grass collector I found on my allotment, it leaked a tiny bit but retained enough water to keep the soil really moist. The watercress grew like crazy. I sowed it a bit thickly, will cut that down and not keep it in full sun as it bolted when the sun was really fierce last year. But got loads to eat by then. I then plant landcress in the autumn to eat all winter. I increased my plants to six this winter but I shall plant up a whole raised bed of it this time. It's all very good for you, lots of iron I think. One of the so called superfoods.
I have read on the vine that people have also bought supermarket watercress and kept it in water until little white roots show and then plant that, haven't tried it but seeds germinate very well and very quickly. Will be getting mine in this weekend.
best wishes
Sue

[berksmike]

How much light does it need?
Was planning on putting it in a pretty shaded part of my garden

[momol]

Hi Berksmike,

Watercress need semishade where they can get away from burning mid day sun. I grow mine in basket and sink them in container. I read somewhere that they pick up their nutrient from their environtment / water including the toxic chemical, so make sure that your growing substances are free from harmfull chemical. Good luck...

Momol

[Urban]

Hmm sorry to resurrect such an old thread, I have a water butt in the far back corner of my greenhouse
I love watercress, I wonder if I put some kind of mesh a few inches below the surface of the water in the waterbutt, would I be able to grow watercress in there? The water butt will be kept topped up

[Potstubsdustbins]

Urban worth a shot, I grow mine by just throwing it in my pond, providing I keep my Koi away it does just fine. SWMBO bought the plant from Sainsburys in Arnold about 3 years ago.

Colin

[veggiechicken]

I buy a bag of watercress from the supermarket, put the biggest sprigs in water until they root, then chuck them in an old belfast sink under an outhouse drainpipe. Anything's worth a go!

[Urban]

Cool, I reckon I'll give it a try, will make better use of the space than just having a lid on the waterbutt

Ive got a pond, but I wouldn't fancy eating anything out of it, the snails lay there eggs on everything in there

[DavidJP]

You could also try land cress. Very similar taste and always grows well for me.
Salad Leaves 'Land Cress' - Salad Seeds - Thompson & Morgan

[Florence Fennel]

I grew it last year from seed in an old washing up bowl. I kept draining out the old water and replacing with new.