Watercress 2,300 (0.5g's) Herb Seeds

Packet Content (approx) 2,300 (0.5g's)

Watercress is one of the few herbs you can grow that really does like it's feet in water. Traditionally grown in streams of running water, watercress can often be found growing wild.

The health claims made on behalf of watercress are some of the most spectacular of any so-called superfood.

Growing Tips: 

Cultivation of watercress is practical on both a large scale and a garden scale. Being semi-aquatic, watercress is well-suited to hydroponic cultivation, thriving best in water that is slightly alkaline.

Watercress thrives rooted in gravel washed over by clear running water, but if you're not fortunate enough to have a spring in your garden it doesn't have to be grown in this manner - somewhere nice and damp will do.

• Position: Semi Shade
• Height: 0.3cm Width: Spreading
• Lifespan: Perennial

Use: Watercress stimulates digestive juices. The tangy taste and smell of the leaves are indicated in the plant?s generic name Nasturtium which comes from Latin ?nasi tortium? meaning nose twitching; no doubt due to the peppery taste, which causes a contraction of nasal and mouth muscles.

The very best way to get the full nutritional value of watercress is to pick just before a meal and eat. Add to cooked dishes, salads, soup, stews, and stir-fries, just before serving.

It is one of the best sources of the element iodine, other than seaweed, such as kelp. Iodine is important to the function of the thyroid gland. The leaves used as a poultice are applied for relief from enlarged prostate gland. Watercress contains more sulphur than any other vegetable, except horseradish. Sulphur rich foods play an important part in protein absorption, blood purifying, cell building and in healthy hair and skin.

• Harvest: Harvest regularly

Suitable for the vegetable garden, allotments and containers.

Be prepared to water well and supplement feed with high-potash feed during season. Regular feeding is recommended.