Increasing my stock of Watercress

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We love Watercress, and it’s so easy to grow! The two pots of it that I kept from last year have flowered now, so the stems are tough and stringy – no longer any good for eating.

I will let these plants run to seed and save the seeds from them like I did last year, but that won’t happen for a few weeks yet.

Ideally, I would like some fresh Watercress soon, so I need to propagate some in a different way. I snipped off a few sprigs of it the other day and rooted them in water.

I have now planted these up in a pot of moist soil (no, Watercress does not need running water in which to grow!).

This is the quickest way to get more Watercress, but I’m also trying a different way…

I mentioned recently that I had found lots of tiny Watercress plants coming up in my Onion bed. These must have grown from seeds contained in the homemade compost with which I mulched that bed. An unintended occurrence, but a welcome one.

I decided to transplant some of the little seedlings into pots. I carefully lifted a few, trying to avoid damaging their roots.

These look like very healthy young plants!

I put half a dozen into each of two 9-inch pots, filled with moist garden soil.

The last part of the procedure is to water them well to help them settle in, then put them in a shady place for a couple of days to get established. After that they can come out into the full sunshine, and within a fairly short space of time they should be ready for cropping!

I do like getting free plants!

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