Growing rocket

[maggiethecat]

I've planted some and the thing looks like it's reaching for the sky and is also flowering - how do I care for it - do I pinch off flowers or try to stop upward growth. Essentially, what do I do for best yield?

BTW, some sweet rocket planted alongside is quiet and am not sure if I should be doing anything with this either.

Nah, they dont really need much doing with. Some salad/herb leaves go bitter after flowering, but not so with rocket.

You could pinch off the flower heads, but, to keep the plant bushey and productive you need to pick leaves regularly (but not too regularly).

If you take care of it, and it's in a warm, sheltered position, it will pop up again next year

keep picking it, and keep sowing more - when it gets long and straggly just rip it up and start again! You can eat teh flowers apparently

Rocket does go to seed very quickly, and, as MTA says, you just keep sowing more. But once you get going, it self-seeds pretty well.

I used to split my rocket patch in two, sown at an interval of about a month. When one side went badly to seed, I would let it, then pull up the plants and sprinkle the seeds in, and use the other side, until that went to seed, etc etc.

Or, if you can find some, try and get the wild rocket with thinner leaves (if you can find anyone who stocks Italian veg seeds, they usually have it). That seems to produce a much longer lasting plant, which in my old garden used to work almost like a short-lived perennial.