🥗 Rocket

Rocket is a quick, peppery salad leaf that is ready in about four weeks and is easy to grow in pots, window boxes and any gap in the vegetable bed. Fresh homegrown leaves have a nuttier, stronger flavour than bagged supermarket rocket.

There are two main types: salad rocket, an annual with broader leaves and mild flavour, and wild rocket (also called sylvetta), a perennial with narrow, deeply cut, hotter leaves. Both are productive and will self-seed freely if allowed to flower.

Varieties to try

Astra (broad, tender salad rocket)Wild Rocket (perennial, hotter flavour)Dragon’s Tongue (red-veined leaves)Apollo (reliable and slow-bolting)

Sow thinly outdoors from March to September, 1 cm deep, in rows 15 cm apart, or scatter seeds across a pot or tub. Seedlings come up in a few days. Sow a short row every two to three weeks for a constant supply, as plants soon bolt in warm weather.

For summer crops, sow in light shade and keep the soil moist, as hot and dry conditions lead to hot, peppery leaves and early flowering. Autumn sowings in September, under a cloche or in a cold frame, give leaves right into winter.

Top tips

• Sow a short row every two to three weeks.
• Choose partial shade in midsummer.
• Cover with fine mesh from sowing against flea beetle.
• Scatter-sow into a pot for the windowsill.

Rocket needs little care, but regular watering is important, as drought makes the leaves bitter and fiery and causes bolting. Keep it weeded and thin plants to 10–15 cm for larger leaves, or leave them close for baby leaf.

Flea beetle is the main pest, leaving numerous small holes in the leaves. Fine mesh from sowing, plus consistent watering, protects the crop. Slugs can eat young seedlings. Rotate rocket with other brassicas, as it is in the same family.

Top tips

• Water regularly to avoid fiery, bitter leaves.
• Use fine mesh to keep out flea beetle.
• Sow in partial shade during summer.
• Rotate with other brassicas.

Watch out for

Flea beetleSlugsAphidsBolting in hot weather

Start picking when the leaves are 5–10 cm long, from four weeks after sowing, using scissors to cut leaves about 2.5 cm above the base. Leave the centre to regrow, and you can cut again two or three times. Young leaves are the mildest, and older ones become hotter.

Pick regularly to delay flowering. Once rocket bolts, the cream flowers are edible and peppery in salads, and wild rocket will go on flowering for weeks. Allow one or two plants to set seed, and they will self-sow around the garden.

Top tips

• Cut with scissors and allow to regrow.
• Pick young leaves for a milder taste.
• Eat the flowers too.
• Let a plant seed for next year.

Toss rocket into salads, scatter on pizza and pasta just before serving, blend into pesto, or wilt into omelettes and soups. Its pepperiness pairs well with sweet fruit such as pear, with parmesan, with lemon and with olive oil. Add it at the last minute, because heat quickly wilts the leaves.

Rocket is best eaten fresh, as it wilts quickly. Keep leaves in a bag lined with kitchen paper in the fridge for up to four days. It does not dry or freeze well, though you can blend it into pesto and freeze that in small pots.

Top tips

• Add to hot dishes at the last moment.
• Blend into pesto and freeze in small pots.
• Pair with pear and parmesan.
• Do not wash until needed.