Plant Arugula: Salad Nearly Tosses Itself

Grow Arugula for a Gourmet Touch in Your Garden

Arugula may grow like a weed, but it adds a gourmet touch to salads, sandwiches, pasta, and pizza. This spicy green, with its nutty tang, is also a key ingredient in mesclun lettuce mixes.

Known by other names such as roquette and rocket, arugula is native to Southern Europe. While it can be grown year-round in many climates, it thrives best in the cooler weather of winter and spring.

Arugula germinates and grows quickly, which is why it often doesn’t stay long on nursery shelves. Therefore, planting from seed is the best option, according to Sharon Kaszan, trials manager for W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a mail-order seed company based in Warminster, Pa.

“Plant arugula seed now, and you’ll be harvesting tender, zesty leaves in three to four weeks,” she says.

Arugula is an annual that lasts about three to four months. The young leaves are the mildest in flavor, while older leaves become more intense and tangy. Once the plant begins flowering, the leaves turn bitter, though the flowers are still edible. Hot weather also intensifies the flavor of the leaves.

Types of Arugula

  • Standard Arugula: Features smooth, green, oak-shaped leaves.
  • Italian Wild Rustic Arugula: Smaller, finely lobed leaves with a heartier, more robust taste—ideal for pasta or pizza toppings.

How to Grow Arugula

Sunlight

Arugula prefers a spot that receives at least six hours of sunlight per day. While it can tolerate some shade, it will produce less flavorful leaves in such conditions.

Soil Preparation (Ground Planting)

  • Loosen the soil to a depth of about 4 inches using a rake.
  • Amending the soil is unnecessary unless it’s heavy clay.
  • Broadcast seeds in a patch or plant in rows.
  • Cover seeds with ¼ inch of soil and water thoroughly.
  • Keep the soil moist during germination, which typically takes 5–7 days.

Container Planting

  • Use pre-moistened seed-starting formula or high-quality potting soil.
  • Sprinkle seeds on the surface and cover them with ⅛ to ¼ inch of soil.
  • Water gently after planting.

Watering

  • Keep plants consistently moist but not soggy.
  • Water every 4–5 days in dry weather; containers may require more frequent watering.

Fertilizing

  • Fertilizing is not required unless the soil is nutrient-poor.
  • For nutrient-poor soil, use organic fertilizers such as 5-2-2 at planting, or an organic liquid fertilizer once true leaves appear.

Harvesting Tips

  • Sow new seeds every 2–3 weeks for a continuous harvest.
  • Thin plants regularly to maintain flavor and prevent premature flowering.

Additional Resources

For a free Burpee catalog featuring two types of arugula, call (800) 888-1447 or visit www.burpee.com.

Julie Bawden-Davis

Julie Bawden-Davis is a bestselling journalist, novelist, blogger, and YouTuber. A prolific author, Julie writes in several genres. She enjoys creating page-turning suspense served up with a dose of romance, garden books that turn any brown thumb green, and spiritual books meant to enlighten and inspire. Widely published, Julie has written 45 books and more than 4,000 articles for a wide variety of national and international publications. She lives in Southern California, where she enjoys sunny, blue skies most days and year-round gardening. Julie gains inspiration from being surrounded by plants when she writes.