the watercress alliance | from seed to store | responsible farming

Watercress is grown in shallow gravel beds fed by springs and bore-holes providing a constant flow of relatively warm pure chalk filtered spring water.

Depending on the time of the year watercress is either grown from seed or vegetative propagation. At the start of the UK season watercress seeds are propagated on thin layers of compost within greenhouses and polytunnels. It is not an easy plant to propagate - 30,000 seeds are needed to produce 3,000 seedlings, which in turn produce 300 plants. After about 7 to 10 days the seedlings are transplanted by hand into the gravel beds outside.

Pure spring water is introduced to the crop, gently at first and then in ever increasing volumes with a mature bed needing 5,000 gallons per acre per hour. The growing time can then be anything from 28 to 70 days, depending on the weather. The warmer it is the faster the plants grow.

Watercress is a marginal plant and derives most of its nutrients from the water through roots embedded in the gravel. It also throws out aerial roots, tiny sprouts from the stem, to enable it to absorb even more nutrients.

On a winter's day steam can be seen rising from the beds as the warmer spring water meets the cold air. On these days, the watercress characteristically ducks its head close to the water to keep warm.

When the watercress is ready for harvesting, highly specialised harvesting machines cut up to two to three tonnes of watercress an hour

The plant is then transferred to highly sophisticated pack houses, located close to the watercress farms in the south of England, so within hours, the plant has been chilled, and packed into 'washed and ready to eat' bags.

The bags are loaded onto refrigerated lorries to be delivered in peak condition to your local supermarket.