rosemary
Photos
Chicken simmered in broth and white wine,with lemon, crispy sage leaves, polenta chips with parmesan, and a salad of arugula , pear and candied walnuts.
Last edited by shiny on November 12, 2026. View history
Arugula
Eruca sativa
WD
Also known as
salad rocket (EN)
rucola (EN)
rucoli (EN)
rugula (EN)
colewort (EN)
roquette (EN)
rocket (EN)
garden rocket (EN)
arrugula (EN)
true rocket (EN)
rocket salad (EN)
tira (EN)
white pepper (EN)
oruga (EN)
oruga común (EN)
eruca (EN)
roqueta común (EN)
ruqueta (EN)
bekarki (EN)
rúcula (EN)
fedorenta (EN)
pinchão (EN)
ruccetta (EN)
How to sow arugula: Direct seed or transplant in wide rows or raised beds
Sun requirement for arugula: Plant in Full Sun
Mildly bitter, sometimes peppery, salad green. Fast-growing with deeply lobed leaves. Prefers cooler weather, bolts in the heat.
- 53
- plantings
- 14
- harvests
- 10
- seed packets
Arugula facts
Lifespan
Annual
living and reproducing in a single year or less
14 weeks
median lifespan
First harvest expected
8
weeks after planting
Last harvest expected
12
weeks after planting
Height × spread
30cm × 20cmRow Spacing
25cmGrown for
leaf harvested 13 times
Optimal temperature
15–25 °C
Absolute temperature
8–29 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall
500–900 mm/year
Absolute rainfall
300–1100 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH
7–8
Absolute soil pH
6–8.5
FAO EcoCrop
Crop cycle
70–150 days
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal light
very bright to clear skies
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For arugula, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 8°C and a shortest growing cycle of 70 days at its best temperature, about 840 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your arugula will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing arugula
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before sowing
- Water regularly at sowing every week
- Thin the seedlings 2 weeks after sowing
- Sow another batch 2 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Pick young leaves at first harvest every week
- Pull out plants that have bolted 4 weeks after first harvest
How members grow arugula
Sunniness
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Planted from
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Harvested for
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Plant arugula with
Photos
Arugula plantings
Arugula harvests
Video
Where arugula grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about arugula
lemons
sage
pears
Planting outdoors & fruit trees
by maco,
Today I transplanted the cabbage and onion seedlings outside and planted seeds for: arugula, garlic (well, cloves, not seeds–forced in the fridge), mesclun salad mix, kale, cauliflower, and …
cabbages
onions
arugula
garlic
kale
cauliflowers
beets
apples
peaches
almonds
plums
Read more
Coming together
by shawnacscott,
This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
lettuces
arugula
mustard
sunflowers
dill
onions
beets
tomatoes
fenugreek
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
lavender
spinach
basils
thyme
parsley
zucchini
peas
calendulas
Read more
Getting ready for spring!
by maco,
I've got seeds either on-hand or ordered for just about everything I'm starting from seed this year. I've been working out what I want to plant, and this is the plan I've come up with for the 72 square feet of my backyard raised beds:
eggplants
garlic
kale
lettuces
onions
oregano
parsley
Hungarian wax peppers
bell peppers
zucchini
yellow summer squash
butternut squash
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
super sweet 100 tomatoes
chamomiles
Read more
Optimism is... planting butternuts at Christmas
by Skud,
Like I said in my last post, everything has been late and disorganised this spring. However, I'm trying to get some stuff planted juuuusssssttttt under the wire for December, and hopefully they'll have time to grow before things cool down in the new year. Last year I was pretty amazed…
butternut squash
sunflowers
nasturtia
arugula
purslane
nettles
Read more
A slow start to summer
by Skud,
I'm so very, very behind on my gardening. I was travelling heaps and had lots of other commitments through October/November, which is peak spring planting time here, and nothing got done. I've come to the realisation that if I'm going to do work that involves that sort of travel, I …
cavalo nero
sunflowers
arugula
sorrels
tomatoes
San Marzano tomatoes
eggplants
zucchini
squash
Read more
Arugula flowers
by amy,
I got way too busy for a couple of weeks, and it decided to get hot right in the middle of that time – so of course various things in my early salad stuff have bolted like crazy.
Arugula flowers are, first of all, surprisingly beautiful. I know this isn't meant to be a si…
arugula
Read more
Transplant day!
by inkstone,
I originally wanted to do this yesterday but it rained in the morning so that kinda put a damper on things.
So I did it all today instead! A bunch of the seeds I wintersowed in the milk jugs and soda bottles were getting crowded so it was time to move them to their bigger (permanent) containers….
spinach
mizuna
arugula
tatsoi
lettuces
radicchio
broccoli
Malabar spinach
okra
parsley
anise
Read more
Who's planted arugula
- valgrind Vegetable Garden
- corvi Containers on the deck · salt spring island
- shiny indoor plants · Wellington, NZ
- pazinjanka Indoor · Almere, Netherlands
- bigblen Garden · Rapaki Road,...
Arugula harvests
-
shiny harvested not specified.
over 6 years ago
-
shiny harvested not specified.
about 7 years ago
-
shiny harvested not specified.
over 7 years ago
shiny harvested not specified.
Find arugula seeds
- Skud will trade nationally.
- juliet will trade locally.
- Skud will trade nationally.
- shawnacscott will trade nationally.
- View all arugula seeds 10
View all arugula seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 70 to 150 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Eruca sativa Miller
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Capparales Cruciferae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect, acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
Learn more about arugula
Resources outside Growstuff.
