Six weeks since I put the Wild Rocket seedlings into the Buddy’s Sydney patch, and I’ve finally got leaves worth cutting. Not the whole bed at once, mind. Two of the four rows are there. The other two are a week or so behind, probably because they’re getting shaded out by the neighbouring silverbeet in the afternoon. I should’ve spaced that better.
The ready ones look like this: leaves are 8 to 10cm, deep green with that slightly serrated edge, and they’ve got some heft to them when I rub a leaf between my fingers. No flower stalks yet, which is the thing I’m watching hardest. Once Wild Rocket starts throwing up a central stem with little white flower buds, the leaves turn bitter fast and the eating window’s basically over. Warm temperate Sydney is forgiving through winter, rocket doesn’t mind the cool nights we’ve had, but it’ll bolt the second the days warm up properly. I’d rather harvest too early than lose the lot to a bolt I didn’t see coming.
Cutting, not pulling
My technique: scissors, not fingers. I cut the outer leaves about 2cm above the crown and leave the centre growing point alone. Tearing by hand bruises the stem and slows the regrowth. Cut clean and this patch will keep throwing new leaves for weeks yet.
On yield, I’m not going to promise a number I can’t back up from one patch. What I can say from how Wild Rocket generally behaves is that a cut-and-come-again bed like this should give me a proper handful every 10 to 14 days for a good six to eight weeks before it finally bolts and turns bitter for good. I’ll keep logging each cut here so the estimate’s got some real data behind it rather than a guess.
The rows that are still catching up will need moving next season. Rocket doesn’t do polite about sharing sun with silverbeet.
