How And When To Harvest The Arugula In Your Garden
By SAKSHI KHAITAN
Harvesting your arugula at the correct time is crucial to the vegetable’s flavor, as doing it too soon will leave the plant with a weaker taste while waiting too long will leave it bitter.
Arugula typically ripens between 35 and 50 days, but when you should harvest is also a matter of flavor preference, as you may want a stronger or lighter taste.
Arugula will have a mild pepper taste after 20 days, when it is about 2 inches tall. It has a stronger flavor at 3 inches, but only pluck a third of the plant to
The final stage arrives right before the plant is about to bolt. You must harvest arugula in its entirety at this point, or else the leaves will turn extremely bitter.
The time of day also plays a factor in the harvest. Ideally, you’ll want to do so at the coolest and driest—early morning or at sunset—so the leaves retain the most moisture.