Botanical Interests Arugula Rocket Salad

Nothing adds such an exciting, interesting flavor to salads as this green! Its flavor is often described as hot with a hint of nut flavor, tart, and spicy. It is most often eaten raw in salads but can also be steamed or added raw to many other dishes (such as pizza). Leaves are most tender and tasty when young (2”-6” long), but don’t worry when your plants mature and grow to a taller 2’-3’ as the weather warms. Then, you can forgo the leaves and sprinkle the edible flowers in your salads. As a cool season crop, it is best to plant it in the early spring or late summer for a fall crop. This packet plants: One 20-foot row or five successive plantings of 4-foot rows. When to sow outside: RECOMMENDED. Early spring, 3-4 weeks before average last frost, and successive plantings thereafter every 3 weeks until 2 weeks before the first fall frost. (Skip hot part of summer.) In USDA zone 8 or warmer areas, it can be planted in fall for a winter harvest. When to start inside: 4-6 weeks before last frost and when soil temperatures are very high.