Arugula Hanging Tough In Early Snow

Fremont Garden Sleeps

Published: November 14, 2011Updated: 03:45 November 15, 2011

Thinking Arugula: Midwesterner Discovers Mediterranean Salad Treat

opinion

We got a pretty good dollop of winter Thursday night which sent this reporter on a quest to a couple of community garden spots I’d worked last summer. I wasn’t in search of the usual suspects, like cauliflower or brussel sprouts, one might assume as being the only edible thing left in a garden covered with early snow. No, I was on the trail of what may be the last of the year’s fresh arugula.

I find that most people don’t know much about arugula except some vague notion that it’s something effete and delicate and not of the common man. I say this because those were my feelings of a couple years ago. Around that time I decided that I’d pretty much run out of excuses for not eating better in general and my persistent belly specifically and I needed to do something about it. Salads seemed like a good start but as far as iceberg lettuce goes it has no taste to it, is barely recognizable as food, and is definitely a non-starter. It’s a travesty really. So, I went the spinach route; a more substantial body, but only marginally more taste. Standing in the market one day looking at the prospect of another bag of that silage I knew I had to make a change. Arugula; didn’t I hear Al Gore talking about that? So I bought a box of the stuff. It was a little pricey but it did call itself “baby arugula” and “organic” so maybe its purity and the fact that it was sacrificed in the flower of its youth made it worth the freight. That was it, I was hooked. After trying the first peppery little morsel I knew I could never go back to good old spinach.

With its vaguely Mediterranean sounding name, I assumed that this stuff could only be grown in climes like the rarified earth of California and by artisan monks. As it turned out a chance encounter with John Wright at the Fremont Community Garden I was assured that was not the case. They in fact had a small patch of the wonder greens just popping out of the soil. John had been grabbing seeds for the garden and randomly grabbed some arugula. He had no experience with the stuff either. Seeing my chance to stop paying for my new found indulgence I became a Freemont gardener on the spot specializing in arugula.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far. Arugula is indeed from the Mediterranean area but naturalizes well in most parts of the world including North America. This may in part be because it was only collected in the wild until the 1990’s before the Ag scientists took an interest. Despite its Mediterranean origins this plant does not like heat. If you cultivate it you’ll find that it’s among the first green of the spring and the last of the fall while taking a hiatus through the heat of the summer. Although it’s an annual the experimental patch planted in late summer last year that had been covered with blowing leaves was still there when the snow melted the following spring. The first thing it did when the snow melted was to put out shoots (bolters) to about a foot and a half in length and produced seed pods. Once you plant a patch of arugula, if you manage it right, you shouldn’t have to buy another seed. (Wait to the seed pods to turn red on one side before harvesting).

When I arrived at the gardens, despite the snow, the arugula was still hanging tough. It was dark green and broad leafed with that mature peppery taste that makes the market sold “baby” variety seem sad and weak by comparison. I took as much of it as I could use in a week. Sadly, it doesn’t have a long “shelf life”. I’m not entirely convinced that this is my last go-around of the season, but I’m treating each morsel as though it just might be. On my window sill is a jar of seeds that will go into the ground in May.

By: Terrence Hunt

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