In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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April 10, 2007

Thinning arrugula

The arrugula seeds have sprouted and form a pretty green carpet in the garden. Now comes the hard part: I have to thin the seedlings so I have strong, healthy plants rather than a bunch of spindly ones. Each day I carefully pull every third or forth seedling so the others have more room to grow and mature. I’ll keep doing that until I have a half dozen or so plants remaining. As the plants get bigger, and their root systems bigger, I’ll snip them off at ground level rather than pull them so I don’t disturb the roots of nearby arrugula seedlings.

Arrugula, also known as roquette, is known for its pungent, peppery tasting leaves. One of my favorite salads is romaine lettuce, arrugula, shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, whole-wheat croutons, sugar plum tomatoes, dried cranberries and Caesar salad dressing. You can also add tuna to the salad, or top each serving with grilled halibut or salmon.

Packaged arrugula available in bags at grocery stores just doesn’t have quite the spicy punch home grown arrugula has. The trick is to keep picking leaves as needed so the plant keeps producing tender young leaves. Organic Gardening editor Scott Meyer warned me that as summer progresses the hot weather can cause the leaves to be more bitter than peppery. Nichols Garden Nursery recommends several sowings for a continuous crop. According to their catalog, the last crop sown will take the first light frost, so I’m hoping to have fresh arrugula clear into October. By then, some of the plants will have gone to seed, and I’ll collect some seed as well as let some fall where it may for next year’s crop.

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