Rocket
You know those bags of rocket that you can buy at the supermarket? Those ‘washed and ready to eat’ salads that cost a couple of pounds for two or three handfuls of peppery leaves. Thing is, for about the same price as that bag of leaves, you can buy a packet of rocket seeds. And from that one packet of seeds, you’re going to be able to grow enough leaves to keep you in rocket salad for months on end.
Rocket is fast-growing, from seed to leaves can be as little as four weeks. It’s also a really tasty and easy to grow microgreen.
Eruca sativa
Annual
Sow Make a first sowing in pots or directly into prepared ground in early spring. Water the compost before sowing and give the seeds a fine covering of compost, soil or vermiculite. Germination should take a matter of days. Keep the seeds and young seedlings damp but not too wet. Rocket can be sown every two weeks until early summer, then again in autumn.
Rocket seed can also be sown in a shallow tray filled with 1-2cm depth of compost for microgreens. Sow seed more thickly than you would for full-grown plants and cover the tray with a piece of cardboard to exclude the light. Keep the tray somewhere warm and check for signs of germination after a couple of days. Once there are green shoots visible, remove the cardboard and move the tray to a light position. Water as needed. Harvest as you would cress, cutting the whole shoot when the first leaves are opened.
Grow Plant out pot grown plants as soon as you see the first roots poking out of the holes at the bottom of the pot. Keep plants watered, especially if there is a dry spell. Harvest leaves as soon as they are large enough. At some point the plant will produce a flowering stem. You can pinch this off to try to prolong leaf production, but rocket flowers are edible, and very tasty.
Uses Rocket leaves add a peppery bite to salads and are good added to pizzas just before serving. A handful of rocket leaves can also be used in a garden pesto. The flowers have a distinctive, pleasant taste. Scatter them over salads, use as a garnish for bruschetta and spring soups.