How to Plant and Grow Watercress

How to Plant and Grow Watercress Nasturtium officinale

Some people have a sweet tooth, and treats like brownies and ice cream call to them. Others, like me, have a spice tooth.

We like lots of chilis in our food and for our salad greens to bite back.

If you fall into the peppery spice-lover camp, watercress should be front and center in your gardening arsenal.

Actually, even if you don’t love spice, it should still feature prominently. The greens lose some of their pep if you cook them, while retaining a bright, green, fresh flavor.

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Watercress is an aquatic plant, so we will, of course, cover hydroponic techniques for growing it in this guide.

But it also grows well in soil, provided you give it enough moisture. And it makes a smart indoor or outdoor plant, so apartment-dwellers and homesteaders alike are covered.

Although it’s an upright grower in water thanks to its hollow stems that allow it to float, watercress will also creep along the ground, making it a marvelous edible ground cover in partially sunny areas.

Hardy in USDA Zones 6 to 9, anyone can grow this leafy green as an annual, though it’s technically a perennial. Ready to join the watercress party?

Coming right up, here are all the things we’ll cover:

Let’s dig into the history of watercress first.

Watercress is a brassica and it enjoys the cool conditions and ample moisture that most brassicas do.

Despite the botanical genus name Nasturtium, it isn’t closely related to nasturtium flowers, which are Tropaeolum species. And don’t confuse watercress with cress (Lepidium sativum) or upland cress (Barbarea verna).

While we’re