Arugula (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa)
Eruca vesicaria subspecies sativa

Annual (usually grown as an annual near you) Upright, Clump-Forming in the Brassicaceae Family
A fast-growing, peppery salad green with deeply lobed leaves, ready to harvest in just 6-8 weeks.
Arugula (also called rocket or roquette) is a cool-season Mediterranean leafy green grown for its deeply lobed, dark green leaves with a distinctive peppery, mustard-like bite. A true annual and member of the cabbage family (Brassicaceae), it germinates and grows quickly, often ready for its first cutting within 3-4 weeks and full harvest by 6-8. If left uncut through warm weather it bolts, sending up airy stalks of small, four-petaled cream to pale yellow flowers veined in purple -- pretty enough, and edible, but the leaves turn noticeably more bitter once this happens.

Pros

  • Extremely fast to harvest -- first leaves in as little as 3-4 weeks
  • Distinctive peppery flavor unlike any other salad green
  • Thrives in cool spring and fall weather, even tolerating light frost
  • Easy to direct-sow and succession-plant for a steady supply

Cons

  • Bolts and turns bitter quickly once summer heat arrives
  • Flea beetles can riddle the leaves with small holes
  • Short harvest window per sowing -- best used fresh, not stored
Why Like Arugula grows wild and semi-wild throughout the Mediterranean -- native to Spain, Morocco, and Algeria -- where it has long been foraged straight from field margins and olive groves for its peppery bite, well before it became a deliberately cultivated salad crop.
Highlights

Few greens reward a gardener's patience less -- and that's the appeal. Arugula is sown directly where it will grow and can be nibbling-ready in under a month, making it one of the fastest edible crops in this catalog. Its peppery bite mellows when young and intensifies with size and heat, so most growers harvest the outer leaves continuously rather than waiting for a single big cutting.
 

Plant Data

Mature Size 8 - 36 inches tall. 8 - 18 inches wide.
Growth Rate Fast
Sun Exposure Partial Shade - Full Sun
Moisture Tolerance Medium
Zones 2a - 11b (Usually hardy to -50° F)
Tags Annual, Annual in Chicago, Container, Edible Foliage, Edibles, Fast Growth Rate, Full Sun, Good for Beginners, Grown as Annuals, Medium, Non-Allergenic, Partial Shade, Partial Sun, Vegetables
Bloom Period Summer, If Allowed To Bolt
Flower Color Cream To Pale Yellow With Purple Veins
Foliage Color
 

More Info from Experts

Commonly Planted with...

Lettuce and spinach make natural salad-garden companions sown at the same time. Radishes are a traditional companion too -- they mature at a similar pace and can help lure flea beetles away from the arugula.
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Pricing and Availability History

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Past Availability
2025 : 02/05 - 05/10
2024 : 02/08 - 06/15
2023 : 05/04 - 06/04

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Field-Grown vs. Greenhouse-Grown Plants

Plants which are well-adapted to our local climate are most often field-grown (outside). Field-grown plants are generally cheaper and have the advantage of already somewhat acclimated to our cold winters, but that means they’re not artificially far along in the spring and tend to bloom at the normal time in our area.

Spring annuals and tender perennials are typically grown in Greenhouses so they can be ready and luxurious exactly when customers want them. Some perennials are also “forced” into early bloom in greenhouses. In May, there can be a very big difference between field-grown and greenhouse-grown plants of the same type. The latter typically look good right away (so they’re a great choice where that’s important), but we typically pay a premium for it.


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No Pricing or Availability Right Now

We order from a rotating cast of the best nurseries in the Great Lakes region. It looks like we've offered this plant in the past, but the nurseries we're working with this week don't appear to have it in stock at the moment.

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