Watercress is very easy to grow. Running or standing water is completely unnecessary. It just needs rich, moist soil that doesn't ever dry out. An easy way to do it is just grow in a large pot or tub that you keep standing in a large container filled with water, such as a kiddie pool. The soil surface should be a couple of inches above the water line. You can start watercress either from seeds or from stem cuttings off of grocery store bunches. If using cuttings, just plant roughly 4 inch pieces in rich, moist soil, and they will root very quickly.

I was hoping someone would ask!!! my watercress this fall is just ECSTATIC in a Gardner's Supply tomato container, which is very much like the Earthbox. makes sense, since water is always in the bottom of these containers, and the plants can easily reach their roots down for a drink, just like growing in a spring..... We love watercress, and next summer after the tomatoes I will probably start about 4 containers, so we can have watercress salad all fall. also, next spring I am going to try sewing watercress in the containers at the SAME TIME as tomatoes, to see how that goes....I would think ok.... Michal Hewitt Hampstead, NC

I just sprinkled the seed on top of the pots with a mixture of kitty litter and sand hanging off the sides of my stock tanks. When the flea hoppers attacked the new plants, I just splashed them off into the water and the goldies enjoyed a snack. The bonus was...babies...lots and lots of babies surviving in the huge root ball dangling in the water under the plants. Everywhere a stem touched the water, new roots sprouted. I'm gonna give it a try again this year. I'm gonna start them indoors under lights in boggy pots and then plant them in the top of my skippy in the big tank bare root. Hopefully this will prevent the fry from surviving so well.

It just goes to show the filter is working. The roots should be consuming excess nutrients like crazy. Since the good bacteria grows everywhere there is good water flow supplying oxygen I doubt the watercress is hurting anything. If it worries you, rip some out. You may leave a lot of roots behind but they will either provide a source of nutrients for the good bacteria or will send up new plants. What you have right now is a combination Skippy/veggie filter. The questions I would ask are: has there been a heavy rain?(even not so heavy rain can mess up the PH), are my fish flashing?(Milt in the water can cause cloudy water),am I overfeeding?(this is the most common problem.), what does my test kit tell me( testing is important)? All of these things and more can be pertinent to cloudy water. If you don't have a test kit, get one and use it. It is a lot better than guessing and getting the wrong answers. You should use it at least once a week. Get a jarful of pond water and allow it to settle for several hours. If the problem is soil or other material has gotten into the pond, it will either settle out or float. That would mean you need to do a little more filtering and water changes to make it go away faster. Otherwise you can just wait it out.