Growing Watercress

I've probably posted about this before, but for the benefit of Jennylynn & other new members, heres what I do.

For people without a pond :

First, get your watercress. A bunch from the green grocers will do. Sort thru till you find some with roots on.

You can pick from the wild, but only if you are sure its watercress. Don't go guessing when it comes to eating things. Remember, you can only take cuttings, its illegal to uproot any wild plant without the landowners permission.

Inspect very carefully for water snails & their eggs ( an elongated clear jelly) Water snails can transmit liver fluke parasite.

I use a 6 inch pot filled with normal garden soil. Compost is too rich & floats out of the pot anyway.

Once planted up, you need to immerse the pot in water so that half the soil is permanently wet. Keep the water topped up & watch it grow.

I fry mine up in butter with salt & freshly ground pepper

For people with a pond :

Plant it in the margin

 

I've tried growing this both from seed and from shop bought watercress and failed with both methods.

I thought I'd found the ideal alternative use for my daughter's old turtle sand pit, but both the pots of germinated watercress and those with rooted 'cuttings' all failed to thrive.

P.S. I seem to see it everywhere I go (Bossington village?) and is that wild watercress in the ditch at the back of West Bexington car park, and if so why doesn't mine grow stuff like that?

 

Oh, it is fussy Scrungee, this is the first method i've found that doesn't kill it outright. Tried growing it in buckets with a rainwater feed, in the fish tank (lasted a few weeks then died) in gravel & planted straight into the bed.

Not seen it in the ditch at Bexington & it is the sort of thing i'd keep my eye open for, so that might have been a water crowsfoot or something, i'll have a look next time i'm down there.

Have found wild celery at Bexington, and of course there are the lovely stands of Sea Kale & Sea Beet down there.

There are wild leeks growing between Bexington & Abbotsbury too, not very big but incredible flavour.

Lovely with a 5lb mullet

 

Probably my lack of success in growing it contributing to inability to identify it. OK, so what about all that garlic at Bude?

 

Only worked at Bude for the summer, restoring a local church. So if its Ramsons (Allium Ursinum) then that would have been over by the time I got there. Ramsons is one of the first spring woodland plants,big broad leaves to catch the sun & develop a single blub before the leaf canopy blocks out the sunlight. Great in salads.

You can buy a version of Cornish Yarg (A cheese wrapped in nettles) that is wrapped in ramsons now, very nice, but I can't afford it.

The best tasting meal I ever had was fresh mussels picked from the rocks at Bude & cooked within the hour.

 

I've now recalled all the details of my failure with watercress.

As my in-laws wanted some watercress, I bought 2 packets and selected all those with roots for myself. When I next called at the greengrocers they me they didn't have any because it was all in flower, and sure enough my cuttings also flowered, then wasted away.

Thinking I must have chosen the wrong time of year, I googled the flowering time for watercress and found April - October! I despaired and didn't bother again.

 

It dies back over winter, but is suprizingly quick to come back after the snow, its growing again round the back of Tescos already. But I must admit i'm bringing mine on indoors to get an earlier crop than a wild picking.

I've got one lot at home and another pot in the caravan at West Bay, which has survived despite being frozen solid in the snow.

 

Here is a quote from a very learned poster from a few years ago on hear,Some of you might remember him ,he was a tad troublesome lol.
I always grow Watercress in my pond,a very useful pond plant....and I always fancied using it for food but after seeing this thread I never quite trusted it afterwards.......Rightly or wrongly.

 

Thats why I cook mine Rodders

And for all you naughty people out there, always cook your magic mushrooms (psilocibin semilanceata) for the same reason.

 

OK Zigy!
Watercress is classed by some as a "Superfood" with it's anti cancer suppressing properties,but it should be eaten raw to get the true benefit .

 

Water cress now bbc 1

Bother, finished now. BBCi player, Countryfile. Sunday 23/1/2011

 

Just an up date on the watercress, this is the lot that was frozen in a block of ice right thru the snow in my caravan, the time when my toothpaste was frozen solid too



I'm letting it root into separate pots to propagate separate plants & spread it around a bit.

Oh, had a look in the ditch at Bexington Scrunge, that is Water Crowsfoot down there. I'll take a cutting down so there is some cress next time you visit.

 

I anticipate being there next around 16th May (weather/'May Water' permitting) and will look out for it.