Watercress update
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Discoveries, Vegetables | 11 comments
I’ve been coddling a 24 cell tray of watercress seedlings for weeks and suddenly they have put on a growth spurt and moved rapidly from dolls house sized plantlets to doll sized plants in the space of days. This week they can finally be settled in large 12″ pots and delivered to their new homes. We have a list of happy recipients that is lengthening daily.
A large pot of these (3-5 cells to a pot) should provide enough watercress all summer for 2 watercress lovers. They need to be fairly well established, flopping over the sides of the pot, before you can start harvesting. Then, as long as you just harvest the tops, the watercress stems will regenerate through side shoots until the first frosts.
I covered the absolute essentials in my post at the end of March. Since then, I have discovered a lot more. If you buy watercress from the greengrocer or supermarket and find that you have stalks with roots, these can be put in a jam jar of fresh water for the roots to develop. Plant the rooted stems in pots and place the pots in deep bowls of water (refresh daily) and grow on.
Impatient for my watercress to grow, I bought some from Tesco this week and have tossed it into my pond. This brave blogger ate watercress from his pond and has survived (although it has only been a matter of days). He did soak it in a saline solution to kill the bacteria and rinsed it well.
This evening I dropped in to see my pal Jo. I had rung her this morning desperately looking for a frozen pheasant (they are out of season) and a wooden crate to make a hay box (culinary). Always helpful, she offered both.
I mulled all day over a present that she would like and enjoy. Eventually I had the answer. A pot planted with baby watercress might be tepting. Jo produced the promised pheasant and a marvellous 1977 Warre’s Port crate. Both spot on.
During the tour of her splendid kitchen garden I mentioned that I had grown watercress from seed and would she like some. Her face lit up.
“I am addicted to watercress. I’d love a pot. Yes please.”
The reaction is generally the same. I am going to sow another 24 cell tray of watercress tomorrow. This could be the perfect present to give to friends that have well packed cellars or those who don’t drink wine .
Incidentally, Jo mentioned that commercial watercress is treated with a very weak solution of bleach (do not try this at home) before being rinsed and packed. Danny was horrified when I touched on this over supper (luckily we were not eating watercress at the time).
“I’m never going to eat commercially grown watercress again. Please plant more seeds tomorrow.”
The bleaching treatment must be safe. But it does sound nasty and it has put me off too.
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All….I cropped upon your comments and wanted to mention a couple of things.
I’m growing and technical director for Vitacress, Europe’s biggest growers of watercress. We supply M&S and Sainsburys. All our watercress (and salads) is grown and washed only in pure spring water – no chlorine / bleach, no pesticides, no additives.
Watercress is as clean and safe as the water it is grown in. So if you water’s safe to drink, like ours, it’s safe to grow watercress that can be enjoyed uncooked.
Look at www.watercress.co.uk for lots on the crop, esp its anticancer properties, or BBC R4 Food Programme from this week on listen again.
And keep enjoying this superfood – preferably ours at less than £1 a bag all year round. That’s less than it cost 10 years ago!
steve
Wild watercress grows fantastically well in several small streams around where I live and right now it is very prolific. Saw some people picking it and filling plastic garbage bags…told me it is delicious cooked…. Does cooking destroy the liver fluke ???
Hi Jill
All sowing instructions will be on the seed packet!
I just use seed compost for germinating the seeds. If you use a propagator, germination will be much quicker.
When they are big enough, the size of doll watercress I transfer them to biger pots. 3/5 groups to a large 10″ pot and ordinary potting compost and they sit in water (old washing up bowl) in the shade for the rest of the summer. Protect the plantlets from slugs. Change the water every day.
After a while they will really take off – the more you harvest (I take the tips) the more they grow.
Good luck!
Hi
I love watercress and found your website and so have ordered some seeds from the link. Not a very good gardener so could you please give advise on how to plant and what soil etc is needed. I was going to plant in pots and stand in water as you suggested. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Jill
Hi Alan,
The shop bought watercress usually has roots on the stems already. I tossed some into our pond and it looks very pretty. We have been harvesting watercress from or pot that is growing in the shade all summer and it is still growing now. It sits in a washing up bowl of water that needs to be changed every day.
I have seen the liver fluke in watercress in a London restaurant.
The best place to gather watercress is near the source of a river.
Thanks for dropping by.
I stumbled on your Blog when looking up info on watercress. I understand that the shop bought cress will root if put in clean water and it can then be put into the pond. I am also told that it does best in flowing water.
Your comment on bacteria reminded me that one of the problems of ‘pinching’ cress from the local stream especially in sheep-rearing areas is that it can be contaminated with the deadly “liver fluke” parasite present in sheep and cow droppings. If harvesting wild watercress ensure neither sheep nor cows reside nearby.
One-Ten, I agree with you. I’m not going to eat anything that is not home grown (watercress wise). I love it and Danny was becoming a convert.
Danny said this evening, eying a pack of watercress that was wilting in the fridge.
“Are you sure about the bleach?”
“I trust my friend. She’d know.”
She has a farming background. She loves watercress. They buy Farmers Weekly…
Frankie, do have another go. If you don’t have a propagator why not try my mum’s method? She soaked seeds overnight and then put the seed trays in the airing cupboard to germinate. At 87, her gardening is a bit limited now but she did amazing things without a propagator or greenhouse.
Richard, it’s not too late to sow watercress seed. There has been so much interest in the plants that I will probably be sowing well into June.
I™d gladly swap watercress for a Surrey courgette or something else that could be useful. Surrey has that ideal combination of gardeners and Bank Managers. I™d happily drive down to Surrey if you have a patch of wild Bank Managers to swap. They are a bit thin on the ground in Cambridgeshire
If you find yourself in Surrey, I’ll swap you a watercress plant for… um… I’ll dig-up a courgette or a broad bean for you??
Is it too late to start some watercress now? Maybe next year.
I’ve been ‘gifting’ people thyme plants recently – it’s amazing how much you can grow from a single packet of seeds!
Thanks for all the tips (I™ve followed your links to previous posts). We love water cress but my first attempt at trying at home was a complete failure. You’ve inspired me to try again!
I’m still alive. And I’ve been eating even more watercress from the pond.
Your seedlings are looking terrific. And what a great idea for a present – you can never have too much watercress.
With your news about the bleach, I’m only going to eat from the pond… that rather puts my worries about the pond water into perspective. Indeed, if I’d known about the beach, I’d never have thrown the watercress straight into the pond (fortunately pond life suffered no ill effects).