I live in NE Ohio, zone 6a, last frost date (2025) being 27 April. I’m fairly certain I’ll be picking arugula by then. I planted ‘wild arugula’ (as depicted in the first photo to this article - thin, pointed leaves) five years ago and I have routinely let it go to seed, and as it is wildly prolific, I pull up plants from where I do not want them and move them. Consequently, I have arugula most everywhere in my back yard; it has become one of those 'pesky weeds' some speak of, except in my and my wife’s case, it is a Job Well Done. We love arugula, you see, and last year, e.g., I probably harvested 10-pounds of it if not more, gave away more than a few pounds, and even dug up some plants for an exterminator (something weirdly ironic there perhaps). We simply grow more arugula now than we 2 can eat, so the neighborhood gets some tasty free greens too. Win-win. I let it seed because the bees and other bugs love it. I have had pretty much no problems with it in terms of pests or disease, and it is one of very, oh so very few things those #$%^ deer will not eat. This naturalization is so ideal to me because now when I find arugula where I do not want it, I can just harvest it to the ground. Odds are it will come back, but if not, that’s fine because I have it in numerous places where I do want it, and as said, for the past five years, it has not diminished but rather multiplied, exponentially. Put it this way: this arugula is more pesky than any mint (or anything else) I have grown. And it is deliciously wonderful stuff (and makes a very fine tart, I should add).
Grow it; let it seed; eat well.
And fyi, I have grown carrots, potatoes and other crops with it; works fine. Will shade heavily after a few months growth so keep that in mind, but it also seems to deter pests, perhaps more so due to its hiding/burying the other crops. But again, just eat it down to the ground, thin heavily (once well established), and odds are it will simply return. An amazing plant.
I live in NE Ohio, zone 6a, last frost date (2025) being 27 April. I’m fairly certain I’ll be picking arugula by then. I planted ‘wild arugula’ (as depicted in the first photo to this article - thin, pointed leaves) five years ago and I have routinely let it go to seed, and as it is wildly prolific, I pull up plants from where I do not want them and move them. Consequently, I have arugula most everywhere in my back yard; it has become one of those 'pesky weeds' some speak of, except in my and my wife’s case, it is a Job Well Done. We love arugula, you see, and last year, e.g., I probably harvested 10-pounds of it if not more, gave away more than a few pounds, and even dug up some plants for an exterminator (something weirdly ironic there perhaps). We simply grow more arugula now than we 2 can eat, so the neighborhood gets some tasty free greens too. Win-win. I let it seed because the bees and other bugs love it. I have had pretty much no problems with it in terms of pests or disease, and it is one of very, oh so very few things those #$%^ deer will not eat. This naturalization is so ideal to me because now when I find arugula where I do not want it, I can just harvest it to the ground. Odds are it will come back, but if not, that’s fine because I have it in numerous places where I do want it, and as said, for the past five years, it has not diminished but rather multiplied, exponentially. Put it this way: this arugula is more pesky than any mint (or anything else) I have grown. And it is deliciously wonderful stuff (and makes a very fine tart, I should add).
Grow it; let it seed; eat well.
And fyi, I have grown carrots, potatoes and other crops with it; works fine. Will shade heavily after a few months growth so keep that in mind, but it also seems to deter pests, perhaps more so due to its hiding/burying the other crops. But again, just eat it down to the ground, thin heavily (once well established), and odds are it will simply return. An amazing plant.