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Question

luiza.portes

Hi, I've started to grow my own salad veggies a month ago, so I'm a beginner. One of the herbs I planted was salad rocket. I have struggled to find information about what time of the year you should plant it so I planted it a month ago, in October (spring in South Africa - lots of rain). I read that once it flowers, that's it, the plant will start tasting bitter and you'll need to buy more seedlings. My one month old rocket (one of 5) is already about 30cm tall and it's flowering! I would like to know if anyone has tips for growing rocket and to growing more seedlings yourself instead of having to buy it every time. Many thanks, Luiza

Topics:

Herbs

Jessica Still

Tue, 11/13/2012 - 18:05

Your salad rocket is also known as arugula & it is usually a cool-weather plant. The arugula name may help you find more tips & seeds. Right now you could plant more seeds - it grows quickly - or more purchased seedlings. Please let your salad rocket plant GO TO SEED & collect the seeds to replant your own crop. The flowers/plants will make 2" long, slim pods FULL of seeds, so you get a lot of seed from one plant. As the pods begin to dry to have to be careful to harvest them before the pod twists open & flings the seed around your garden. You might cut a nearly full-dry stem of pods & put in in an open paper bag to finish drying & save all seeds. But if you are in your garden every day, saving seed is easy. In addition to saving for replanting, salad rocket seed - or arugula - is a nice harvest for the kitchen. I like to save many herb seeds to use with cooked grains such as rice, cous cous or quinoa. I prefer to soak the seed overnight in a little water & add the seed to the finished dish uncooked - for maximum flavor. Cumin, dill & caraway seeds are great for all bean dishes. And salad rocket & mustard seed are wonderful with rice or quinoa,

Sat, 12/29/2012 - 15:45

Ditto Jessica's advice, but I would add that if you don't mind letting nature take it's course, just let the plant go to seed and leave the seed pods on the plant. I leave my arugula alone, and it reseeds itself with no help from me. I then have seedlings that emerge at the right time. I can relocate them to another bed or just leave them be.