Arugula
(Eruca sativa)

Photo courtesy of Marco Verch

A wonderfully bitter cool-season green that can be grown from Fall right thru Winter and Spring in warm Winter climates like the SF Bay Area! So good in mixed salads, it’s also used in soups, pastas, sauces, etc. Grows quickly to 8” tall. Harvest leaves either by cutting the entire plant down to about 4” (they’ll pop back in a couple of weeks), or harvest individual leaves as needed. For a steady supply throughout the season, plant successive crops every 2-3 weeks. Arugula loves to flower and will do so as soon as days get longer, or hotter, or the soil dries out. Stop harvesting the leaves at this point – they’ll be too bitter. Wait, though, and it’ll produce a 2-3’ tall flower stalk with loads of .5”, 4-petaled, white edible flowers for use in salads, soups, etc. The young seed pods are also edible with a delicious radish flavor. Plant in full sun Fall thru earliest Spring. After that, provide some shade to delay flowering. Self sows! In colder Winter areas, plant out two weeks before last frost.