Rocket seeds / Arugula sativa

Description

Wanting to grow plants for salad, I acquired an old variety of rocket seeds called Eruca sativa. This rocket can be sowed outdoors as well as indoors as long as it gets enough light and the weather isn’t too cold. The shoots emerge a few days after sowing and reach an interesting size for consumption after a few weeks. You can just cut off the larger leaves of the plants so that others can grow. The regrowths will not necessarily be as tasty as the first leaves because the plant can change its taste to be less attractive to predators. This variety produces pretty white flowers with black stripes which attract foraging insects. They have a scent that I find very pleasant and which reminds me a little of vanilla. The flowers will produce pods containing several seeds which can easily open and thus be naturally sowed. In order to consume this plant regularly it is smart to sow it regularly to obtain new plants. When the plant flowers its leaves are tougher and less tasty.

I like to sow this arugula in pots where other plants such as tomatoes or herbs are growing, and for an optimised culture it can be sowed in a shallow container (a few centimetres are enough to obtain leaves with sizes suitable for consumption in salads). Using a transportable container can also allow to carry it from the balcony to the kitchen, for example, with a harvest just before preparation. Its taste is strong, quite spicy, allowing you to spice up your salads easily. Arugula provides a good supply of vitamin C and mineral salts.