Water Cress

Janey3

I fancy having a go at growing water cress and wonder if anyone else has and how successful it has been. I have been told it can be grown in a pot stood in a bowl of water?

angelavdavis

I have grown it just in a garden border but you need to ensure it doesn't dry out.

cjb02

I agree. it can grow in borders or water. I got mine from asda (one of those plastic bags full of the stuff, there is lots in there with small roots on and if not it will root anyway) as angelavdavis says keep it moist. it grows really quickly and self seeds quite well to.

grrmich

If you find water cress to much of a faff to grow, try American land cress. I chuck some seeds on the ground, rake it a bit and it grows without any effort and tastes just like water cress.

Janey3

Thank you both, I will give it a try in a border.

I'll try the American land cress too, thank you, grrmich.

shykins

my hub loves cress and we have tried it loads of time with no success, the seedlings are very tiny and straggly and never seem to get any growth despite us changing the water, not letting it dry out etc etc

we about gave up last year but had a few seedlings left which i shoved in a gap in the pond wall and guess what?? loads of cress which has even self seeded round the pond. obviously is the running water that is the key

now some say its ok to eat, some say it isnt...........

Janey3

That's great, Shykins. I suppose beside a pond or stream is its natural habitat really.
I wonder why some say it's not ok to eat?

shykins

well i read it HAS to be clean water running water but surely in the wild it cant ALL be clean can it?

also if there are sheep near the water some sort of mite can get into the water....safe to say i have no sheep near my pond lol

anyways it seems to have made it thru the winter so have pushed some more into another gap round pond to see how it grows this year

Horace

shykins wrote: »

well i read it HAS to be clean water running water but surely in the wild it cant ALL be clean can it?

also if there are sheep near the water some sort of mite can get into the water....safe to say i have no sheep near my pond lol

anyways it seems to have made it thru the winter so have pushed some more into another gap round pond to see how it grows this year

Running water tends to be cleaner than water that just sits there. Where I grew up there were lots of wild water cress beds and I can remember one lady from the village always going to pick a basket full to take to market but she had to stop when the farmer moved sheep into the field because sheep have worms and you can ingest this worm when you eat the water cress.

shykins

thanks horace, i knew it was something to do with sheep!!

foxgloves

It doesn't need running water. I grow mine in a very low-tech way.....I sow the watercress seed in 3 flower pots of compost & stand them in an old washing-up bowl on the patio. Fill the bowl with water at least half way up the sides of the pots & keep it topped up. Every week, just tip out the old water & replace with new. Try not to let it flower, it's the leaves you want to keep productive. For the pots, pick the largest ones you can that will still fit in the bowl. Sometimes, I'm still getting good pickings off it through the autumn, but it doesn't like frost. April is a good time to sow. I don't bother thinning it.