How to Grow Arugula • From Seed to Harvest

Hi, I'm Niki Jabbour, and arugula is one of my favorite greens to grow for spring as well as fall and winter harvesting. Why? It's so quick and easy. In fact, standard salad arugula is ready to eat just a few weeks from seeding. Plus, it's absolutely delicious. I love the peppery kick of arugula leaves in salads, as well as some cooked dishes like pastas or as a pizza topper. Let's learn all about growing arugula.

Types of Arugula

First up, I want to introduce you to the two main types of arugula: salad arugula and wild arugula. Salad Arugula varieties have strap-like leaves that are slightly lobed, and when they flower, they have white blooms. Wild arugula plants have smaller, deeply lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and takes slightly longer to mature.

How to Grow Arugula

All types of arugula are best grown in full sun, but if you struggle to find lots of light, they can take some shading, especially if you're growing them in hot weather or hot climates. As for soil, it should be fertile, moisture retentive, and have a pH in the 6.0 to 6.8 range. Salad arugula isn't a crop you plant just once. It's a great cold-hardy green to grow in spring, late summer, autumn, and even winter. It doesn't transplant well, however, so you'll want to direct sow the seeds in garden beds. Plant them a scant one eighth of an inch deep and space them about an inch or two apart. You can scatter the seeds in bands, or plant each seed precisely in staggered rows, whatever works for you. However, you'll likely need to thin them as they grow. Once the seedlings are 2 to 3in tall, thin them to 3 to 4in apart to ensure they have enough space to mature. Of course, I eat those delicious thinnings. Overcrowded plants bolt early, so thinning is an important step in growing arugula.

Succession Planting

Arugula isn't a long lasting crop and bolts when exposed to stressors like high temperatures, drought conditions, or overcrowding. For this reason, arugula is the perfect crop for succession planting. I sow a new band or row of the seeds every three weeks, pausing only in summer when the weather turns hot. This gives me the longest possible supply of the peppery leaves. By late summer, the days are getting shorter and I'm planting arugula again.

My last seeding takes place in early autumn for an overwintered crop. This happens about a month before the day length slips below ten hours. I sow the seeds in a cold frame, my polytunnel, or a garden bed that will then be covered with a mini hoop tunnel. The plants sprout over winter and then put on fast growth in early spring for a super early harvest.

Pests

As mentioned, arugula really is very easy to grow, but flea beetles are a common complaint. The tiny black beetles chew holes in the leaves, but can be foiled by practicing good crop rotation and using lightweight floating row covers or insect netting.

Harvest

Harvest arugula by picking individual leaves or cutting the entire plant with a knife when the leaves are the size you want, typically 3 to 6in long. If you cut them about an inch above soil level, the plant should grow back for a second crop.

Bolting

A few times in this video, I've mentioned a regular plant's bolting. This is when the plant switch from putting on new leaves to flowering. And although it is the natural end of their life cycle, we don't want it to happen too early in the season. Bolting can happen if the plants are overcrowded, moisture stressed or heat stressed.

Arugula flowers are white or yellow depending on the type and are edible, adding color and flavor to salads. However, as the plants bolt, the flavor of the leaves becomes more peppery, so I generally prefer to harvest arugula before bolting.

I hope you've enjoyed this video and have learned some pro tips for growing a bumper crop of delicious homegrown arugula. Happy growing!

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