IT isn’t difficult to grow watercress at home, but growing it well can be tricky. It’s not one of those vegetables you can just plant and forget. Watercress needs quite a bit of attention.

There’s one bit of good news, though: the idea that you have to plant it in running water is, luckily, a myth.

There are two ways to get started, and if one doesn’t work for you it’s definitely worth trying the alternative.

The simplest and cheapest method is to keep back a couple of sprigs from a bunch bought for eating.

Take pieces that have about four inches of stem, with some healthy-looking foliage at the top. Put them into a glass of water on a windowsill, removing any leaves that would sit below water level.

After about a week you should see thin, white roots appearing from the stems. Now take a four- or five-inch pot and fill it with peat-free multipurpose compost.

Use a pencil to make holes in the compost into which you can stick your watercress cuttings, with the leaves just above the surface.

Place the pot in a saucer or bowl of water, so that the compost is permanently moist. Keep the pot in a light position, but out of strong sunshine.

Once there are roots showing through the pot’s drainage holes, it’s time to plant the cuttings into their final home.

Space them about six inches apart, either in moist, deep soil in a partly shaded position or in a large container.

Water should be changed every couple of days; watercress doesn’t grow at all well in stale water

Almost any container will do, but the perfect pot for watercress would be wide rather than deep, made of clay rather than plastic, and contain around 30 litres of compost.

Again, stand the pot permanently in water. That water should be changed every couple of days; watercress doesn’t grow at all well in stale water.

Some experienced growers suggest that rainwater works better than the stuff from the tap.

You can also grow watercress from seed, with packets available from most catalogues.

From midspring to midsummer, fill the large pot, as described above, with compost and sprinkle about a third of the packet of seeds evenly over the surface.

Cover them lightly with more compost, and stand the pot in water. They’ll germinate in a week.

Start harvesting the cress when its stems are around four inches tall.

Always leave the lowest pair of leaves on the plant to regrow for another crop. If your cress isn’t thriving, experiment by moving the pots to give slightly more or less sun.

In winter the plants can be moved into the shelter of an unheated greenhouse, where you will often get the best pickings of the year around Christmas time.

Or you could just copy my neighbour, who chucks the seeds randomly across his deep beds.

I keep explaining to him that he’s not doing it right, but he just points out that his watercress grows better than mine does.

Honestly — there’s no helping some people.