A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Water cress

Im thinking about trying to grow some, anyone tried it yet?
is it easy?

I tried a piece at the garden center. It was tangy and I can see how it would make a good sandwich green.
I've never grown it, but I notice that some say it's tricky, what with water changes and all, and some say it's OK in cool moist conditions.

i like the taste, but its quite exspensive here.
even the seeds are exspensive :rolleyes:

Is watercress the same as garden cress?

Garden cress is a little curly leaf like parsley.
Watercress has round, flat leaves.

Oh okay... In that case...

No. And I don't know.

thanks christina

Any time Mark. I'm always here for ya bud.

We eat it a lot, especially for hot pots, and all along I though it was some Chinese thing (until I googled up watercress ) I'll try to see if I can root a piece from the supermarket the nex time my mom buys it. I read in an herb handbook that it roots in water easil...I'll let you know how it goes

What's a hot pot?

A hot dish of food.. like a stew I believe..

Consider growing nasturtium -- which is a member of the cress family with stunning flowers that are a nice and peppery flavored addition to salads (as are the leaves), and with a decent amount of disease and pest resistance.

ive grown nasturtiums before, but never tried eating them.
still keen to give the watercress a go!

Water cress is a cinch! It's one of those 'can't really kill it' plants.

I buy it just in a plastic bag in the grocery store and it roots in my ponds and creek like mad. The only thing is, you have to root a main stalk, not the leaves, they'll just rot. It likes cool water, gets really perterbed in warm.

Here it is December 18th and it's still going nuts and spreading everywhere!

BTW, tis a wonderful water filter, hence my growing it in the pond and veggie filter. But you can plop a stem right in a glass of water, stick it on a windowsill, and it will root. After all, it grows naturally in slow running cool streams. Give it a try.

thanks sewobsessed, i dont have a pond so i will try it in some containers to start with.
if its as easy as you say, i will give it a go

Mark, did you ever try the watercress?

I sent away my seed order a couple of days ago,should be interesting to see how long they take this year :rolleyes: last year it took them over 3 weeks to send them out!

I've never grown it either, but when I lived in Missouri, we had a spring that started in front of my house and it grew there...I really miss being able to go out year around and get some water cress. Some people only eat it at certain times of year as it have a peppery taste sometimes, but I loved it year around. One thing about water cress, is if you see it growing in a creek..you know that the water is fresh and clean, as it only grows in fresh water normally in the wild.

That's interesting, Comfrey-I didn't know that.
Mark, I'm planning on growing watercress this spring. Glad you've ordered your seeds.

Are we going to compare notes

Of course we're gonna compare notes !

have you got your seeds yet?

We have the plants at our nursery-I thought I'd just get the plant.

I'm not trying to cheat.
It's just that I have no patience with seeds !
The only thing I grow from seed is miniature eucalyptus from Johnny's.
Eucalyptus is my very favorite tree, and I grow the mini because I can only container garden.
This way I'm never without a eucalypt.