How to Grow Arugula

• Soil, Planting, and Care
• Harvest and Storage
• Troubleshooting
• Uses

Set out young arugula transplants 12 to 18 inches apart.

Fast-growing arugula leaves will grow back again and again after cutting.

A small bunch of arugula adds a peppery flavor to a salad.

Long popular in France and Italy, the leaves of arugula provide a spicy zap when added to a salad. This is the same plant sold in cellophane bags in the grocery store  and usually labelled 'baby arugula.' However, we think that home grown has more flavor. You decide! You can also sauté or steam the leaves like spinach or other leafy greens. Plants look a little like a dandelion, but are bigger and more open. Leaves grow best in cool weather. Leafy plants grow 6 to 12 inches tall while in the harvest stage.

In the Garden

Arugula (Eruca vesicaria) is a green with zip. Sometimes called rocket or roquette, arugula should be planted in the garden in early spring or fall. It will grow in a rosette  about a foot wide and equally tall. Like leaf lettuce, mustard, or collards, arugula stretches skyward in hot weather, blooming and setting seeds. You can pull it up when plant start to send up a bloom stalk from the center, or you can continue harvesting the leaves until they taste too strong. Some gardeners cut the plants back to get another harvest as it tries to grow back. The bloom stalks may grow 24 to 36 inches tall and have little white flowers on top. These are pretty to add to a salad.  Flowering signals that the season is ending for arugula and you can replace it with a warm weather crop, unless you want to try cutting it back and eating it just a little longer.

Soil, Planting, and Care

Arugula grows fast. Set plants in the sunny garden in early spring for spring harvest or late summer for fall harvest. Plants prefer the cooler days of spring or fall. Like any leafy green, arugula requires a rich soil to make its best growth. Before planting, add compost to the soil. Then apply a timed-release fertilizer at the rate directed on the label for lettuce or other leafy greens, or fertilze with Bonnie's Herb and Vegetable Plant Food. Space transplants 12 to 18 inches apart.

Troubleshooting

When flowering begins in late spring or early summer, the flavor becomes more intense. At some point it may be stronger than you like, which means its time to take it out and wait for the next cool season to plant  (early spring or fall).

Harvest and Storage

Pick only the outer leaves, so the plant remains intact and usable for weeks to come. This cut-and-come again harvest keeps the plant yielding lots of leaves until the plants flower. Harvest often to encourage new growth.

Uses

Arugula is considered a vegetable when it is cooked and eaten like spinach, or it can be used more sparingly as an herb to flavor a salad, meat, or pasta sauce. It is not for those who prefer mild flavor like that of an Iceberg lettuce salad; it calls for an adventuresome palate. Add arugula flowers to salads in late spring or summer as the plants grow a tall bloom. At this point the leaves may be more pungent than you like, but try them just in case.