If you are looking for one super food to grow at home, look no further than to watercress. With more Vitamin A, VitaminB1, VitaminB3, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, iron, potassium, and calcium (whew!) than any other veggie out there, you will end up feeling like more than just a champion green thumb. Your whole body will benefit from the healthy boost.
This easy-to-grow green is world renowned for its pepped-up peppery flavor and for its patent nutrition. Watercress has been recognized for its superior health benefits throughout time. It is currently making a renaissance of sorts in home gardens everywhere.
Watercress (Nasturtium Officinale) is from the mustard family and is an aquatic plant. It grows naturally near slow flowing water. Since most of us are not fortunate enough to have a stream in our backyards, watercress can still be a simple addition to your yard. Watercress can even be grown in a container on your kitchen table.
How to Grow and Care for Watercress
The key for a successful watercress harvest is water. If you do happen to have a fresh, moving water source in your yard, you can grow watercress in the same manner it grows naturally in the wild. Find a source for a transplant of watercress. A bunch of watercress can be found at your local farmer’s market and even in the wild.
If you select watercress from a farmer’s market, look for shoots of roots at the bottom of the stems. Place your stems in water to stimulate root growth if you need to. Watercress takes root easily. When you see roots, your watercress is ready to plant. Or, if you uproot a transplant from the wild, be sure to rinse the entire plant carefully before introducing the plant to your garden.
The roots of the watercress are fragile, so handle your transplants with care. Plant your roots gently in the wet soil around your water source. Your watercress should grow easily and proliferate well there.
To plant your watercress in containers, select two containers to stack within each other. Make sure the first container has a drainage hole. The first container will need to fit into the second, larger container or tray. The second container will provide a source of fresh water at all times.
To prepare your first pot, fill it with a rich compost soil. Purchase a fresh bunch of watercress from your local farmer’s market or even from your local grocery store. Plug a few stems of watercress with root shoots into the soil and water it well. Place this pot into the second, larger container or tray that is filled with water. The water will soak into the soil through the drainage hole of the first pot and keep the soil moist for the watercress roots to grow. Provide clean, fresh water daily.
Your water garden will produce the most watercress if you allow it several hours of morning sun each day. Allow for afternoon shade. Your outside watercress will produce tender, tasty leaves for several months. Once the outdoor plant goes to flower, the flavor will become bitter tasting and your harvest season will be over.
To harvest your watercress, snip off the leaves, but don’t disturb the roots. Cut enough to eat fresh, because watercress will not store well. If you have to store it, place it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
For a handy edible garden right in your kitchen, fill a glass bowl or fish tank with 2 inches of smooth rocks or pebbles. Fill the bowl with mineral water, and place a few stems of watercress among the rocks. The roots will reach down into the pebbles, and the greens will fill in over the surface of the water. Snip your greens, and enjoy!
Pests and Problems
Watercress attracts flea beetles and mustard beetles. To get rid of these pests, immerse your plant in water for an hour. The bugs will drown, and your plant won’t the mind getting dunked. You might also consider growing a few radish plants near your watercress. The radishes will attract the bugs away.
Want To learn more on the nutritional facts and health benefits of watercress?
Visit:
http://watercress.com/
For one blogger’s experience with growing watercress, see: Watercress in the Garden
Creative Commons Flickr photo courtesy of Wendell Smith
I’m RUSHING out to make a watercress soup today!
That’s bullshet, we, the Maori people of NZ, & now, many others, have been getting ours from the wild, for centuries. Our waters are pristine clear, probably why you recommend not to get your’s from the wild, because yours are NOT!
Kia ora Harvey,
You’re talking like watercress was only found in NZ and only Maori discovered it. You also seem to believe the lies that Aotearoa/NZ is “clean & green”.
Shake yourself down Harvey. Stop perpetrating the myth that NZ/Aeotearoa is clean and green.Capitalism drives pollution world wide so I am growing my own and hey Harvey, I won’t have to pay exorbitant prices for hydroponic watercress or risk unknown pollution from the wild.
Be mindful that ‘Maori’ food is now appropriated by the capitalists and Maori kai and kai moana is now a commodity we pay a high price for.
OMG i learned a lot from this. I think i will go for the indoor those decorative with pebbles. Anyways, i was loving the soup till it was blended in, i think i like to chew the watercress. Does that mean that i just add to soup without cooking the watercress then… I prefer not to blend?
In Chinese cuisine, the watercress is not blended. It’s just boiled in long sections in a broth made from pork and bones. Served with rice, the cress is eaten like a cooked veg and the soup is drunk too. Cooked this way, watercress is not peppery or bitter at all.
How to get its seed.could u adivce me to supply its seed to nepal.thanks
Watercrest can be a host for liver fluke, a terrible desease. Stream grown watercrest can carry the minute intermediate parasites.
If growing watercrest in containers, the only safeway may be to grow them from seeds, I am sure you can find them.
best article on the “how to’s ” of cultivating watercrest…they are many ways to grow this nutritious plant, I became interested in it reading about it’s popularity in Victorian England of all places when it was sold by street vendors mostly to the poor….
I just bought watercress from the organic section of the supermarket. I planted the stalks with root immediately into very wet soil last night. I’m not sure if I took too long to plant them but the stalks are droopy. This morning I saw that some stalks are looking better (not sure if it’s because of the sun), but most are still droopy and some are yellowing. Are there any advice out there so that I can revive my watercress plant?
I just received some watercress seeds today from Amazon.com. The You. tube video was helpful. I’ll be planting watercress soon and will try making sandwiches with the watercress like they did back in the days when they made them for high tea!