My go-to arugula variety is Esmee, mostly because every other seed listing promised something "peppery as your old nonna" or a "pleasing kick in the pants." Esmee, meanwhile, was billed as "mild." We have gotten along very well.
Here in Brooklyn, I start my arugula indoors in the winter and transplant it out very early. It handles spring frosts without complaint and is usually one of the first salad greens I get to enjoy. I harvest it at what I call the Teen Green stage, somewhere between baby greens and full-sized leaves.
Then, at some point, the leaves begin changing. The oak-leaf shape becomes rufflier and rufflier.
The plant is getting ready to bolt.
When that happens, I cut the whole thing off at soil level, leaving the roots to rot in the ground, and make one last extra-ruffly salad as a last hurrah to spring arugula season.
This year, my arugula started bolting at the end of May. Other years, it has chugged along almost all summer.
I still haven't figured out why.
Does anyone know what dictates arugula bolting? I don't think temperature or time of year are the only factors. I'd love any insight.
