Growing Rocket

[watervole]

Anyone thinking of growing veg for the first time and looking for something easy to try could do a lot worse than grow rocket.



The first rule of growing veg is to grow something you like to eat.

I'm not a massive fan of rocket, but Richard really loves it and will eat it in preference to lettuce every time.  Rocket has a mild peppery flavour.  You can eat it as a salad vegetable or cook it like spinach or use it in pizza recipes.


The second rule is to grow something easy.

Rocket is on of these crops where you put in the seeds, stand back and wait for the plant to hit you.  Okay, maybe not quite that fast, but it is called rocket for a reason..  It germinates quickly, grows quickly, and you can do lots of small sowings for a succession of plants throughout the summer and autumn.  You could also grow it on your windowsill.


How to grow it.

1.  Get seeds (between £1.15 and £2 per pack.  This should be an easy plant to save seed from if you don't want to get new packets every year)

2.  Look at this page (I was going to give instructions, but they'd said almost exactly what I was going to and they have pictures to boot).

3.  Start picking leaves as soon as the plant gets more than six inches tall.  It'll be up to a foot in height before you can blink.  (Sow your second row once the first row has clearly visible tiny plants)

Comments

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

This is a nice help for beginners. Gardening here is still impossible, too cold and wet, the trees still without the buds, let alone leaves.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Plastic sheeting over the soil is a great way of warming it, so that you can plant things a couple of weeks early after the sheet has been there for a few weeks.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

This is really a good piece of advice. At the moment, the soil is soaked and so cold. I will wait and buy young plants at our nice market - marjoram, and tomatoes and lettuce and I will also sow some green pees.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I expect you've made it into mixed-leaf salads, too? Those are so tasty. Rocket, lettuce and nasturtium is one of my favourites.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I've never actually tried nasturtium. What does it taste like?

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Both leaves and flowers have quite a sharp peppery taste. To me rocket tastes rich and a little bit spicy whereas nasturtium has a kick.