Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
develop without stress; you can pick leaves from them at any time, so long as you
do not disturb the growing point.
Several sowings will be necessary to provide a year-round harvest, the last of
which should be a larger sowing in August or September to provide a standing
harvest for winter. Some varieties need protection in frosty weather, but this can
be provided with a horticultural fleece cloche (see Chapter 7, page 59, for instruc-
tions).
Growing
Rocket needs almost no attention beyond regular watering, and is usually
ignored by slugs unless other food is in short supply. The only work you will
need to do is to pick it regularly to stop plants building up too much leaf area and
bolting; this may mean composting some of the pickings, but is better than losing
the plant. Always keep the number and size of the plants under review.
Harvesting and storage
Rocket leaves are quite delicious in salads but lose their flavour when cooked, so
pick them young and use a 'cut and come again' approach (see page 110) to
extend the harvest season. Single leaves can be stored as for lettuce, but again
are best eaten fresh from the plant.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that when rocket becomes bitter and
bolts, the harvest is over, so they pull the plants and start again somewhere else.
However, you can also just leave them to it: let the plants flop over, then cut off
about half the stem. New, less bitter leaves will grow out along the remaining
stem, and give you a continuous harvest from just one patch for several more
weeks and possibly months. Just avoid the hairy leaves forming on the upper
part of the stems, as these are tough and make poor eating.
A rocket patch will eventually have too many coarse leaves, or have flopped on
to adjacent plants, and will need to be removed. Anticipate this by sowing
another patch elsewhere, so that harvesting can continue uninterrupted.
However, if you don't need the space, the old plants can be left to flower: both
the flowers and seed pods, if they are allowed to develop, are a wonderful addi-
tion to salads.
Problems
Club root
and
flea beetles
.
Salad leaves
Once you discover the ease and speed with which you can grow a really varied
selection of salad leaves in your tunnel, it's likely that salad vegetables will
