Growing Wild Rocket Salad

I've been growing 'wild rocket' for a few years now so if you're fed up with spending loads of money on rocket salad at the supermarket, crack on with some home grown rocket. It's slug resistant, easily grown from seed and 3-4 plants will produce enough salad for 2-3 servings per week for a couple without killing the plant, dies down in winter and then springs back to life in the spring. Make sure to prick out any flowers (stop it bolting and going to seed) as it seems to make the leaves bitter if the flowers are there. OK to plant in a container/pot but each plant needs to be in container no smaller than 10" across. I grow mine in the ground.

If you have any questions about wild rocket please post them here!

 

Is wild rocket resistant to flea beetle? A local organic farmer has had problems getting a saleable crop from salad rocket because of flea beetle.

And doesn't wild rocket bolt just as easily as salad rocket?

 

I've just googled flea beetle and haven't seen anything like that. I put a blanket of slate chips around each plant to minimise rainfall kicking up grit. And I pinch out flowers as soon as I see the buds.

This is the variety I'm currently growing:

http://www.tamarorganics.co.uk/pages/catalogue.php

 

Organoponico

You rarely see flea beetles - just the damage they do. They eat many, many tiny holes in the leaves. It's still possible for us to eat the the plants if they're not too badly affected but for a commercial grower, the crop may become unsaleable because the plants look so tatty.

Flea beetle love salad rocket and radishes.

 

I seem to remember something about growing mustard near anything troubled with flea beetles. I don't have that problem and never have so can't back that up with experience.

 

I haven't seen the damage described my biggest problem used to be grit in the salad and slate chips have solved that problem nicely. But saying that I'm growing dill and salad cress between the plants so maybe the organic companion planting is working.

 

I have been growing wild rocket for a few years now, it's very good, flourishes in pots. (My garden consists of pots on a terrace).

 

I had loads growing near my compost heap. It was great coming up every year. Lovely and peppery. One day I went out to get some leaves and the whole lot had disappeared. Not a leaf or a twig or ground disturbance to be seen. There was a huge mass of the stuff. I am still mystified.It's obvious something ate it but what?

 

My guess would be pigeons. They can strip plants down to the ground between sunrise and you getting up in the morning.