Rocket

01 About

Rocket is one of the most instantly rewarding crops in the British kitchen garden — fast, bold in flavour, and productive over an exceptionally long season with almost no effort. Its peppery, complex bite transforms even the simplest salad into something special, and it can be growing on your plate within five weeks of sowing. Annual rocket (Eruca vesicaria) has large, lobed leaves and a full-bodied peppery heat; wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) is slower, more finely cut, and delivers a more intense, complex, almost nutty flavour. Both are cut-and-come-again crops that regrow reliably after each harvest. Autumn sowings produce the finest-flavoured rocket of the year.

02 What to Grow

Rocket divides into two clear groups with very different characters. Annual rocket (Eruca vesicaria) is the fast, bold type — large, deeply lobed, bright green leaves with a hot, peppery kick. It bolts rapidly in summer heat. Wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) is the perennial type — finer, more deeply cut grey-green leaves, slower to bolt, and with a more complex, aromatic flavour that intensifies with age. Both types are outstanding; the ideal approach is to grow both. A third category — oriental salad types including wasabi rocket and Turkish rocket — extends the season and flavour range further still.

03 Varieties

The number of varieties shown for each crop is based on UK consumption data (2025/26) — the more popular the crop, the more variety choices we include.

🌱 Annual Rocket

Eruca vesicaria. Fast, bold, large-leaved. The classic supermarket type. Bolt-resistant modern varieties extend the season.

Apollo

Broad, deeply lobed dark green leaves. Slower to bolt than most annual types. Mild, well-balanced peppery flavour. Excellent for spring and autumn.

• Bolt Resistant
• Spring/Autumn

Runway

Large, broad, slightly glossy mid-green leaves. Vigorous and upright. Good bolt resistance. Reliable for successional sowing across the whole season.

• Bolt Resistant
• Reliable
• Successional

Skyrocket F1

Compact, deeply cut dark green leaves. Uniform habit. Very fast-growing. Bred for bolt resistance in summer conditions. Outstanding for cut-and-come-again.

• F1
• Bolt Resistant
• Fast
• Cut-and-Come-Again

🌿 Wild Rocket

Diplotaxis tenuifolia. Perennial. Finer leaves, more complex and intense flavour. Far slower to bolt than annual types.

Wild Rocket

The species type. Narrow, deeply divided, grey-green leaves on a spreading plant. Strongly aromatic, complex peppery flavour that intensifies in cool weather. Perennial.

• Perennial
• Intense Flavour
• Slow Bolt

Dragon's Tongue

Very narrow, strap-like grey-green leaves. Strongly peppery and aromatic. Slower-growing perennial wild type. Outstanding flavour from autumn sowings.

• Perennial
• Peppery
• Autumn Flavour

Victoria

Deeply cut, narrow leaves with a silvery-grey tinge. Compact perennial wild rocket habit. Excellent disease resistance. Bold flavour.

• Perennial
• Compact
• Disease Resistant

🌶️ Oriental Salad Types

Related species with different flavour profiles — from wasabi heat to mild Turkish rocket. Extends the flavour range and season.

Wasabi Rocket

Diplotaxis erucoides. White-flowered species with narrow, deeply lobed leaves and intense, sinus-clearing heat reminiscent of wasabi. Finer leaved than annual rocket.

• Wasabi Heat
• Unusual
• Fine Leaves

Turkish Rocket

Bunias orientalis. Large, coarse, wavy-edged leaves with a milder, more earthy flavour. A perennial rocket relation that tolerates poor soils and shade well.

• Perennial
• Mild
• Shade Tolerant

Land Cress

American land cress: small, rounded, dark green leaves with a peppery flavour close to watercress. Compact rosette. Outstanding for shady, moist positions where rocket bolts.

• Shade Tolerant
• Peppery
• Moist Soil

04 Where to Source

Rocket seed is among the cheapest and most widely available vegetable seed in the UK. Annual rocket varieties including Apollo and Runway are stocked by virtually every garden centre and seed company. Wild rocket is increasingly available, with named varieties like Victoria and Dragon's Tongue from specialist online suppliers. Oriental rocket types are best sourced from companies specialising in oriental vegetables.

📬 Seeds by Post

Specialist online seed companies carry the widest range including wild rocket, oriental types, and bolt-resistant modern varieties. Rocket seed is inexpensive and germinates reliably. Order from January.

🌱 Supermarkets

Basic annual rocket seed is often available in supermarkets from spring — convenient for a first sowing. For variety choice and bolt-resistant named varieties, specialist seed companies are a better source.

05 Planting Options

🌿 Open Ground (Direct Sow)

The definitive method for rocket. Sow directly into almost any soil without special preparation. Draw a very shallow 1cm drill, scatter seeds thinly, cover with fine soil and water gently. Rocket germinates in 5–7 days in warm conditions. Sow short rows of 30–50cm every 3 weeks for continuous supply. Autumn sowings from August to September give the longest-lasting, finest-flavoured crop.

Suitable varieties: All annual and wild rocket varieties. Oriental types also suit this method.

🪴 Container Growing

Rocket is one of the most productive container crops of any vegetable. A window box, a deep pot, or a grow bag on a sunny windowsill or balcony produces generous cut-and-come-again harvests from a tiny footprint. Use good multipurpose compost, sow thinly across the surface, cover lightly and water regularly. Container-grown rocket needs more frequent watering than ground-grown plants — daily in warm weather.

Suitable varieties: Annual rocket and wild rocket. Wild rocket especially suited to permanent container planting.

06 Companion Planting

✅ Grow nearby

• 

  🥬 Lettuce

  Classic salad bed companions — different growth habits and harvest timing complement each other. Lettuce provides light shade that helps slow rocket bolting in summer.

• 

  🌸 Nasturtiums

  Nasturtiums act as a trap crop for aphids and cabbage white butterflies, drawing them away from rocket. Both are fast-growing and thrive in similar conditions.

• 

  🌿 Chives

  Chives repel aphids and carrot fly. Their mild allium scent deters some flea beetle species and they make excellent edging companions for rocket beds.

❌ Keep apart

• 🥦 Other Brassicas — All brassica crops share flea beetle and clubroot vulnerability. Growing rocket adjacent to cabbage, kale, or other brassicas concentrates pest pressure. Rotate annually and keep beds separated.
• 🌿 Fennel — Fennel releases allelopathic chemicals from its roots that inhibit the growth of many vegetables including rocket. Keep at least a full bed width between them.

07 Sowing — How To

1. 

   Prepare a light seedbed

   Rake the soil lightly — rocket is not fussy about soil preparation but a fine, weed-free surface makes sowing and thinning easier. No need to dig deeply or add fertiliser; rocket grows well in ordinary soil.

2. 

   Draw a very shallow drill

   Use a cane or finger to mark a drill just 1cm deep. Rocket seeds are small and do not need depth — pressing them too deep reduces germination. Space drills 20–25cm apart for large plants, or scatter-sow broadcast for a dense baby leaf crop.

3. 

   Scatter seeds thinly

   Rocket seeds are tiny — scatter along the drill very thinly. Overcrowded seedlings produce drawn, weak plants and increase flea beetle damage. Cover lightly with fine soil — barely 1cm — and firm gently. Water with a fine rose immediately after sowing.

4. 

   Protect against flea beetle

   Apply fine insect mesh (0.8mm or smaller) immediately after sowing. Flea beetle is the single biggest threat to rocket — tiny round holes appear in leaves within days of germination in warm, dry weather. Mesh is the only fully reliable protection.

5. 

   First harvest at 10cm

   Cut leaves with scissors 3–4cm above the soil surface when plants are 10–15cm tall — typically 5–6 weeks from sowing. Do not pull plants. The cut stumps regrow within 10–14 days for a second harvest. Sow the next short row at this point.

Regional sowing timing

Region	Sow / plant	Harvest	Notes
Scotland & Far North	Mar–Aug	May–Oct	Mar–Aug
Northern England	Mar–Aug	May–Oct	Mar–Aug
Midlands & Wales	Mar–Sep	May–Nov	Mar–Sep
Ireland & Isle of Man	Mar–Sep	May–Nov	Mar–Sep
South & SE England	Mar–Sep	May–Nov	Mar–Sep
South Coast & SW	Feb–Sep	Apr–Nov	Feb–Sep

08 Soil Requirements

pH

6.0–7.0

Best

Sandy loam, Loam

Tolerates

Most soils

Avoid

Waterlogged

09 Ongoing Care

🐛 Flea Beetle Control

Flea beetle is the single most serious pest of rocket and all related brassica crops. Tiny metallic black beetles create characteristic round holes in leaves — in severe infestations, seedlings can be devastated within days. The most effective control by far is fine insect-proof mesh (0.8mm aperture or smaller) applied immediately after sowing and kept in place throughout the season. Remove it only for harvesting and replace immediately. Flea beetle is worst in hot, dry weather and on seedlings.

🌡️ Bolt Prevention

Annual rocket bolts rapidly in hot weather and long days. Prevention is far more effective than cure: sow little and often in short rows every 3 weeks; sow bolt-resistant varieties (Apollo, Runway, Skyrocket F1); move summer sowings into partial shade; and keep plants consistently moist. Wild rocket bolts far more slowly and is a better choice for summer growing. If plants do bolt, remove the flower stems promptly — this delays seed production and extends the harvest by a week or two.

✂️ Cut-and-Come-Again Harvesting

The correct harvesting technique is what transforms rocket from a single meal into a weeks-long crop. Cut leaves with scissors 3–4cm above soil level — do not pull plants up. The cut stumps regrow from the base within 10–14 days, providing a second and third harvest. Annual rocket typically gives 2–4 cuts per sowing before quality declines; wild rocket regrows 4–6 times and, being perennial, will also regrow the following spring.

10 Watch Out For

🐛 Insects & pests

• 🦋 Cabbage White Caterpillar — Yellow, ribbed, skittle-shaped eggs in neat clusters on the underside of leaves in summer
• 🐜 Aphids (Blackfly & Greenfly) — Curled, distorted, or stunted growing tips — aphids inject saliva that causes leaf curl to protect them
• 🐌 Slugs & Snails — Silver slime trails on leaves, soil, and pots — often the first sign before damage is found

🍄 Diseases to watch

• 🥦 Clubroot — Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) is arguably the most feared soil-borne disease in UK kitchen gardens. It persists in the soil as resting spores for up to 20 years — meaning a bed that becomes infected is effectively lost for brassica growing for two decades without extraordinary intervention. Crop rotation is the most critical preventive measure.
• 🔵 Downy Mildew — Downy mildew is caused by oomycetes (water moulds) and is completely unrelated to powdery mildew despite the similar name. It thrives in cool, wet, humid conditions and is most damaging in spring and autumn. Each host plant has its own specific downy mildew species. Lettuce downy mildew can destroy an entire bed within days in the right conditions.

Full identification and treatment advice is in the Pests and Diseases sections.

11 Storage & Preserving

🧊 Refrigerator Storage

Store rocket leaves dry and unwashed in a loosely closed breathable bag or wrapped in a dry paper towel in the fridge salad drawer. Do not wash before storing — moisture dramatically shortens leaf life. Fresh rocket keeps for 3–4 days refrigerated; wild rocket lasts slightly longer at 4–5 days. To refresh wilted leaves, submerge briefly in ice-cold water for 5–10 minutes, then spin dry and use immediately.

🥗 Using Fresh

Rocket is at its absolute best eaten raw within minutes of picking. The simplest preparation is the finest: rocket leaves dressed with good extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, and shavings of Parmesan — the classic Italian insalata di rucola. Rocket is also outstanding on pizza, wilted briefly onto pasta, stirred into risotto at the last moment, or piled onto bruschetta.

💧 Keeping Fresh After Harvest

If rocket is to be used within a few hours of picking, plunge leaves into a bowl of cold water immediately after harvest. Shake off excess water and spread on a clean tea towel to dry before using in salads. For harvests that need to wait, wrap dry leaves in a paper towel, place in a sealed bag, and refrigerate promptly. The paper towel absorbs condensation and keeps leaves in prime condition for up to 2 days longer.

12 Expert Tips

13 Common Mistakes

14 See Also

• 🌼 Companion Planting
• 🔄 Crop Rotation